A  Fifth  /5/enue  iTORr. 


F.TEHNY50N  NEELY 
PUBLISHER 
NEWYORl^ 
GHIGAGO 


THE  INDIAN  RIVER  COUNTRY 

is  well  known  to  be  the  most  tropical  and  beautiful  portion  of 
Florida.  Here  are  grown  extensively  the  finest  oranges  in  the 
world,  which  command  higher  prices  than  any  oranges  grown. 
Pineapples,  guavas,  dates,  palms,  lemons  and  innumerable 
other  tropical  growth  makes  this  section  especially  attractive 
to  Northern  visitors.  For  fishing  and  hunting  the  Indian 
River  country  is  the  "sportiman's  paradise." 

THE  HOTEL  INDIAN  RIVER 

■With  ;icconimndatiori.3  for  about  five  hundred  guests,  is  an 
modernly  equipped,  furnished  and  as  liberally  conducted  as 
the  best  Northern  hotels. 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  S.  L.EE,  Proprietor. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/nnadamsapphira01salt 


Madam  Sapphira 


A  Fifth  Avenue  Story 

BY 

EDGAE  SALTUS 


7.  TEXXYSOX  NEELY, 
PUBLISHER, 
Xew  York.  Chicago. 


Copyright  1893 

BY 

EDGAR  EVERTSON-SALTUS. 


Madam  Sapphira 


BY  MR.  SALTUS. 


The  Pace  that  Kills, 

A  Transaction  in  Hearts, 

The  Truth  ahout  Tristrem  Yarick, 
Mr.  IncouPs  Misadventure, 
A  Transient  Guest, 
Eden, 

Mary  Magdalen. 


HISTORY. 
Imperial  Purple. 

ORNAMnNTAI^  I'BSSIMISM. 
The  Anatomy  of  Negation. 

The  Philosophy  of  Disenchantment. 
Love  and  Lore. 


TRA.NSL,ATIONS  INTRO- 
DUCTIONS. 

After  Dinner  Stories. 

Tales  Before  Supper. 

A  Story  without  a  Name. 


IN  PREPARATION. 
Prince  Charming. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA, 


I. 

"  I  TOLD  my  father  that  you  expected  to  make 
a  hundred  thousand  this  year.  He  said  he 
didn't  believe  in  miracles." 

It  was  Mrs.  Carol  Nevius  who,  from  the  head 
of  the  dinner -table,  addressed  her  husband. 

''Did  he  though!  That's  odd,  seeing  that  it 
has  taken  a  succession  of  them  to  keep  him  out 
of  Sing-Sing." 

Mrs.  Nevius  laughed.  She  was  a  pretty  lit- 
tle woman,  very  well  dressed,  with  a  noticeably 
good  manner.  And  as  she  laughed  it  was  evi- 
dent that  her  father  was  not  one  who  inspired 
respect. 

"  But  if  you  do,"  she  insisted,    "  if  you 


6  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

md,ke  a  lot,  you  will  let  me  entertain,  won't 
you?" 

Nevius  shook  his  head.  No,  not  though  it 
were  millions.  In  the  now  remote  bachelor 
days  he  had  his  fill  of  society,  and  while  it  is 
colloquial  to  maintain  that  those  who  do  not 
care  for  socie<ty  are  those  for  whom  society 
does  not  care,  in  his  case  the  argument  was  in- 
valid. He  was  too  busy  to  fatigue  himself 
further  with  futilities  and  late  hours. 

His  wife  was  not.  She  was  essentially  so- 
cial, schemingly  so,  with  a  dream  unfulfilled, 
yet,  perhaps  still  fulfillable  of  leadership  in  the 
upper  four,  and  so  exasperating  did  her  hus- 
band's disinclination  for  any  form  of  entertain- 
ment seem  to  her,  that  had  you  confessed  her 
privately  and  apart  she  would  have  declared 
illicit  commerce  as  nothing  in  comparison. 

But  this  v/as  natural.  Not  until  her  engage- 
ment was  announced  did  society  become  aware 


MADAM    SAPPHIRA.  9 

of  her  existence.  Born  a  Snaith,  her  people 
were  believed  to  be  rich  and  known  to  be  com- 
mon. Her  father  was  an  old  person  of  both 
sexes — possessed  of  all  the  vices  of  woman  and 
none  of  the  virtues  of  man — a  Wall  street  rat 
who  told  untenable  stories  and  insisted  on 
morning  prayers.  His  wife,  it  was  rumored, 
was  of  better  stock,  and  in  reviewing  the  docu- 
ments, it  s-eems  difficult  for  her  not  to  have 
been.  But  she  had  little  to  boast  of.  She 
Avas  a  bloodless  creature,  with  a  deprecatory- 
manner  and  a  total  inability  to  look  you  in  the 
face. 

To  these  people  two  children  had  been  born, 
both  girls.  The  elder,  Frances,  became  in 
time  the  wife  of  young  Montrion  w^ho  promptly 
landed  her  in  a  set  which,  while  not  censorious, 
has  a  curious  habit  of  closing  its  doors  on 
women  who  leave  their  own  wide  open.  In 
what  manner  and  through  what  circumstances 


10  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

Mrs.  Montrion  became  negligent  in  regard  to 
her  vestibule  is  not  a  matter  with  which  the 
telling  of  the  accompanying  episode  need  be 
delayed.  SuflSce  it  to  say  that  after  being 
urged  from  one  end  of  the  avenue  to  the  other 
the  sufficiency  of  that  urging  ceased. 

This  occurred  at  the  hour  when  her  sister, 
Hilda,  was  about  to  make  some  form  of  d^but. 
That  the  latter  was  thereby  materially  handi- 
capped goes  without  phrases.  Apart  from  a 
'  handful  of  school  friends,  their  brothers  and 
lovers,  the  girl  knew  no  one.  It  was  Mrs,, 
Montrion  on  whose  offices  she  relied  to  join  the 
since  defunct  F.  C.  D.  C,  and  to  tread  Assembly 
floors.  It  was  through  her  she  was  to  be 
smiled  upon  by  the  Bleeckers,  Bewicks  and 
Wainwarings.  It  was  through  her  she  was  to 
grasp  those  two  potential  fingers  with  which 
Mrs.  Amsterdam  sealed  the  advent  of  the  deb- 
utante, and  just  when  the  frocks  were  ordered, 


ADAM  SAPPHIRA.  11 

presto  I  up  and  down  Fifth  avenue  one  door 
after  another  was  closing  on  Mrs.  Montrion's  - 
back. 

It  was  li  ird  on  the  girl,  very.  But  she  held 
her  tongue,  and  the  frocks  which  were  to  have 
been  worn  at  routs  she  wore  quite  graciously 
at  home.  Now  and  again  when  her  father 
could  be  induced  to  secrete  himself,  the  hand- 
ful of  friends,  their  brothers  and  lovers,  were 
asked  to  break  bread  at  the  house;  and  in  re- 
turn now  and  again  her  friends  asked  her  to 
their  own  abodes.  It  was  on  one  of  these 
occasions  that  she  met  Carol  Nevius. 

Xevius  wf.s  then  in  his  twentv-fourth  year. 
As  men  go  his  appearance  was  not  distressing, 
he  was  neither  effeminate  nor  beefy,  his  chin 
may  not  have  been  one  which  Lavater  would 
have  praised,  but  his  features  were  good,  he 
held  himself  well,  and  he  dressed  as  those  do 
who  put  themselves  in  West-End  hands,  and 


12  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

then  dismiss  the  subject.  A  little  before  he 
had  taken  honors  at  the  Law  School,  and  had 
been  welcomed  to  the  bar  by  judges  to  whom 
his  name  was  evocative  of  old  New  York  and 
the  early  history  of  Manhattan.  Of  immedi- 
ate relatives  he  had  none.  His  income,  de- 
rived from  a  small  bundle  of  bonds  and  the 
rental  of  the  Nevius  house  in  Tenth  street,  was 
fiulB&cient  to  enable  him  to  live  without  toil 
though  not  without  debts.  An  existence  of 
that  kind  not  being  to  his  liking  he  had  fought 
for  spurs  and  won  them,  so  notably  even  that 
the  cigars  he  smoked  while  digesting  the  Code 
were  paid  for  from  the  emoluments  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

^  His  initial  encounter  with  Miss  Snaith  oc- 
curred at  a  dinner.  As  the  conversation  ex- 
panded he  found  himself  taking  pleasure  in 
ihe  sound  of  her  voice,  and  presently  he 
discovered  that  her  eyes  were  so  blue  they 


MADIM  SAPPHIEA.  IS 

dazzled;  that  lier  mouth  was  perfect  the  poise 
of  her  head  delightful:  that  though  slight  of 
figure,  she  "was  adorably  constructed;  that  her 
wit  was  nimble  and  her  manner  subdued.  She 
seemed  to  exhale  all  that  is  gooc^  in  woman — 
simplicity,  sympathy,  sweetness  ard  strength; 
manifestly  she  was  pure  of  mind,  of  eye  and 
tongue,  and  before  the  dinner  was  done  he 
tokl  himself  that  her  beauty  was  the  least  of 
her  charms. 

These  impressions  he  kept  to  himself,  but 
on  learning  that  at  her  house  a  cup  of  tea  was 
to  be  had  any  afternoon  for  the  asking,  he 
thanked  her  with  much  gratitude  and  took  her 
at  her  word  the  next  day. 

Put  was  it  tea  she  gaye  him '?  Surely  there 
was  H  philter  in  that  samoyar.  It  was  Feb- 
ruary then,  but  by  the  time  Lent  had  come 
and  gone  and  the  spring's  bold  emissaries 
were  in  the  air,  such  was  the  potency  of  that 


14  MADAM  8APPHIRA. 

iDrew  that  only  her  people  and  his  poverty 
prevented  him  from  praying  her  to  become  his 
wife.  Try  as  he  might,  he  could  not  reconcile 
himself  to  her  family,  and  try  too  as  he  was 
able,  he  could  discern  none  of  the  cohorts  of 
advancing  wealth.  And  yet  the  girl  was  so 
radiantly  fair,  so  graceful  in  speech,  so  gra- 
cious in  bearing  and  apparently  so  unexpectant 
either  of  love  or  betrothal,  that  he  saw  no 
reason  why  he  should  cease  to  quaff  that  cup. 
Nor  did  he  cease  till  spring  had  gone  and  sum- 
mer jumped  upon  the  town. 

At  the  first  monition  of  impejiding  heat  the 
Snaiths  were  accustomed  to  desert  Fifth  avenue 
for  a  red  chalet  at  Bronx,  a  roomy  structure 
standing  on  grounds  that  leaned  to  the  water's 
edge.  Sometimes  a  poor  connection  could  be 
lured  that  way,  and  sometimes  a  friend  of  the 
girl's  would  come  unwarned  and  then  take 
flight,  abashed  by  the  speech  of  that  coarse  old 


MADAM   SAPPHIEA.  15 

man,  unnerved  by  the  stealthy  air  and  cattish 
smile  of  the  mother.  But  as  a  rule  guests 
were  infrequent. 

By  what  means  Mr.  Snaith  was  induced  that 
year  to  try  the  waters  of  Sharon  is  not  a  part  of 
history,  but  try  them  he  did,  and  during  his 
absence  Nevius  was  asked  to  Bronx.  Oyer  that 
invitation  he  hesitated  and  continued  to  hesitate 
until  after  a  minute  review  of  recent  events  he 
was  able  to  affirm  that  not  once  had  the  qvA 
even  alluded  to  engagement  rings.  Then  he 
went,  and  as  Mrs.  Snaith  kept  herself  aloof,  very 
pleasant  he  found  it. 

Of  a  morning  there  Avould  be  a  skurry  on 
horseback  through  bye-lanes  and  hedges;  when 
the  sun  was  oppressive  there  were  the  poets — 
Meredith,  Bailey,  Eosetti,  Blunt  and  Swin- 
burne too;  in  the  late  afternoons  there  were 
decorous  drives  over  dusty  roads,  but  in  the 
evening  there  was  the  moon,  the  gurgle  of 


16  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

waters,  the  caresses  of  a  midsummer  night. 
There  were  strains  too  from  that  duo  in  which 
we  have  all  taken  part,  and  there  were  mono- 
logues, spaced  with  silence.  The  moon,  the 
waters,  the  hush  of  locusts,  the  sorceries  of  the 
poets,  these  things  are  sworn  accomplices  to 
adventurous  desires,  and  one  morning  Nevius 
awoke,  wondering  at  fate,  appalled  by  it,  over- 
come by  a  remorse  into  which  a  sweetness  fil- 
tered and  declined  to  go. 

When  he  sought  the  girl  she  was  not  im- 
mediately discoverable.  It  was  not  until  he 
set  out  through  the  grounds  that  he  discerned 
the  white  and  buttercup  of  muslin  beyond.  As 
he  approached  she  rose  from  a  bed  of  flowers, 
and,  as  he  took  her  hand,  her  lips  parted  and  she 
smiled.  Never  had  she  looked  more  fair.  Be- 
neath the  blue  splendors  of  her  eyes  were  the 
faintest  of  circles,  but  in  the  gay  sunlight  she 
was  as  fragrant  as  the  floweus  she  held. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  17 

"  Wish  me  good  morning,"  she  admonished. 
And  that  office  performed  she  led  him  to  another 
parterre,  where  she  gathered  more  flowers  and 
joined  them  with  the  first. 

"  They  will  do  for  the  table,  don't  you 
think?" 

"Hilda,  will  you  marry  me?" 

She  turned  to  him,  a  quick,  glad  look  on  her 
face. 

"You  know  that  I  love  you,"  he  added. 
"You  must  know  that,  or — or — " 

Lamely  he  hesitated.  But  the  girl  must 
have  divined  his  meaning ;  she  made  a  gesture 
that  dispensed  with  needless  explanations;  a 
little  color  came  to  her  cheeks,  yet  her  eyes 
rested  bravely  in  his  own. 

"  Yes,  I  know,  and  you  too  must  know  how  I 
love  you.  Carol,  I  have  always  loved  you ;  that 
line  in  Festus  was  made  for  me:  'My  love  was 
perfect  from  the  first,  it  did  not  grow  as  mean-er 
things  mature.'  " 

2 


18  Madam  sapphiea. 

There  was  no  riding  that  day.  Later  the 
girl  made  avowals  sweeter  still.  To  all  intents 
and  purposes  her  life  had  been  but  a  waiting 
for  him,  the  preparation  and  prelude  of  his 
coming.  There  were  many  things  over  which 
she  had  wondered,  but  now  they  were  all  made 
clear.  She  understood  music  and  its  meaning. 
She  understood  the  witcheries  of  spring,  the 
ripple  of  the  rain,  the  breath  of  brooks.  She 
understood,  at  last  why  the  stars  had  filled  her 
with  unrest.  She  understood  when  they  first 
met  why  a  bird  in  her  heart  had  burst  into 
song.  It  was  love,  always  love;  her  love  ap- 
pealing to  his. 

This  was  very  pretty,  and  of  such  avowals 
Nevius  became  thoroughly  avaricious.  He, 
too,  was  in  the  festival  of  youth,  and  apart 
from  the  three  or  four  episodes  which  inevit- 
ably occur  to  one  who  moves  in  certain  circles 
and  whose  appearance  is  not  distressing,  he 


Madam  sapphira.  19 

might  have  repeated  to  her  everything  she 
said  to  him.  His  heart  at  least  was  as  virginal 
as  her  own.  If  he  had  taught  her  the  mean- 
ing of  love,  she  had  shown  him  the  meaning 
of  life.  Heretofore  he  had  been  ambitious  to 
make  a  name  for  himself.  Now  at  once  he 
was  ambitious  to  make  a  name  for  her.  And 
with  a  little  perplexity,  a  little  embarrassment, 
he  told  her  of  himself.  There  was  the  house, 
the  meager  income  and  his  professional  hopes. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Snaith  house- 
hold was  kept  on  a  footing  of  perhaps  fifty 
thousand  a  year,  and  by  no  means  lavishly  at 
that,  the  girl  might  readily  have  dismissed  so 
indigent  a  suitor.  Then,  too,  in  spite  of  the 
sweetness  and  simplicity  which  she  exhaled, 
she  was  not  one  to  contemplate  with  enjoyment 
such  pleasures  as  are  said  to  reside  in  surb ur- 
ban flats.  But  she  had  faith,  less  in  her 
lover's  success  perhaps  than  in  the  possibilities 


20 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


of  her  father's  naoney.  At  the  moment,  how- 
ever, she  seemed  quite  content,  and  a  day  or 
two  later  informed  him  that  her  father  had 
arrived  and  had  been  approached. 

"  You  are  to  speak  to  him  after  dinner,"  she 
said.  "If  you  were  a  broker  he  would  love 
you."  At  that  period  brokers  made  money. 
"  But  you  are  a  lawyer,  and  he  says  lawyers 
are  tricky.  Come." 

Nevius  looked  down  and  away.  In  regard 
to  trickiness  Mr.  Snaith's  reputation  was  in- 
deed above  reproach,  but  in  this  respect,  it 
surpassed  it.  Yet,  after  all,  it  was  not  the 
father  he  was  to  marry,  nor  yet  the  mother,  it 
was  the  girl  he  loved.  The  entire  catalogue  of 
distasteful  things  which  her  family  repre- 
sented, faded  at  thought  of  her.  He  looked  up 
and  followed  her  from  the  verandah  to  where 
her  people  were. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  lovers  Mr.  Snaith 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  21 

grunted  and  made  for  the  dining-room  beyond. 
His  wife  stroked  a  bloodless  hand  and  asked 
did  it  look  like  rain. 

"  "When  I  am  with  Hilda,"  Nevins  answered, 
"the  sky  is  always  fair." 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  the  lady,  by  whom  that 
phenomenon  had  evidently  passed  unobserved. 
"Ah!  indeed!" 

Nevins  turned  to  the  girl,  she  was  smiling, 
the  red  tip  of  her  tongue  just  visible,  and  so 
adorable  was  her  expression  that  it  was  only  a 
proper  appreciation  of  form  which  prevented 
him  from  catchins:  her  and  smotherinof  her 
with  kisses  in  his  arms. 

But  in  the  dining-room  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  moment  was  forgot.  Mr.  Snaith  broke  a 
raw  egg  into  his  soup  and  refreshed  himself 
with  whisky  and  lithia,  a  beverage  that  he 
declared  was  tip-top  for  gout,  which  statement 
passing  unchallenged  he  entered  into  a  long 


22  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

tirade  against  physicians  in  general  and  profes- 
sional men  in  particular.  They  were  either 
idiots  or  scoundrels.  *'  Yes,  sir,  every  damn 
one  of  them."  To  all  of  which  Mrs.  Snaith  as- 
sented. Then  he  relapsed  into  a  domineering 
silence,  and  some  attempt  was  made  at  more 
amiable  forms  of  talk  but  without  sufficient 
success  to  cause  any  needless  prolongation  of 
the  repast. 

When  the  bowls  were  brought  and  the 
women  had  gone,  Nevius  turned  to  his  host. 
All  over  him  was  written  the  fact  that  he  had 
seen  worse  days  and  never  intended  to  see  them 
again.  He  was  short  and  obese,  with  a  face 
like  a  brandied  cherry,  and  as  terrible  as  vul- 
garity and  ready-made  clothes  could  make 
him.  He  looked  exactly  what  he  was  and 
nothing  worse  could  be  said  of  him. 

"  I  believe  you  are  aware  that  I  ha;Ve  asked 
your  daughter  to  be  my  wife," 


3Iada:m  sapphira.  23 

"  She  has  made  her  bed  and  she  can  h'e  iu 
it,"  Mr.  Snaith  replied. 

Am  I  to  infer  that  I  have  your  consent?" 

"  Infer?  I  don't  know  what  you  infer.  She's 
got  a  good  home,  I  don't  see  what  she  wants  to 
leave  it  for." 

"  Doubtless,"  answered  Nevius.  "  for  the 
same  reason  that  Mrs.  Snaith  left  her  own." 

"  That's  nothing  to  do  with  it.  She's  not 
fit  to  be  married,  I've  told  her  mother  so.  But 
let's  cut  it  short.    What's  your  income?" 

"Forty-six  hundred." 

'*I'1I  give  her  the  same  as  long  as  I  can  af- 
ford it  and  not  a  damn  cent  more.' 

"  Perhaps  in  a  year  or  two  it  won't  be  neces- 
sary for  you  to  give  anything." 

"So  much  the  better  for  me  then." 

And  with  that  Mr.  Snaith  left  the  table  and 
hobbled  from  the  room. 

Had  Nevius  been  other  than  himself,  he  too 


24 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 


would  have  left  the  room,  Bronx  as  well.  Even 
the  law  had  not  brought  him  into  contact  with 
a  boor  such  as  that.  For  a  second  it  seemed  to 
him  that  in  spite  of  Hilda  and  the  irreparable 
he  must  wash  his  hands  of  the  whole  affair,  but 
in  that  second  Hilda  was  at  his  side  and  led 
him  out  to  where  the  red  moon  was,  the  gur- 
gling waters,  the  locust's  hush. 

Before  the  red  moon  waned  white  he  was 
reconciled.  A  girl  such  as  she  possesses  en- 
chantments which  dull  regret.  And  during 
the  pre-nuptial  honeymoon  which  ensued  the 
only  regret  he  could  maintain  was  that  which 
concerned  his  position  toward  her.  But  for 
what  was  the  marriage  service  invented?  In 
the  autumn  their  loves  were  consecrated  by  a 
diligent  bishop,  and  for  a  while  they  loitered 
among  the  quick  of  Paris  and  the  ghosts  of 
Eome.  When  they  returned,  the  house  in 
Tenth  street  was  made  habitable,  and  Nevius 
threw  himself  into  work  as  another  plunges 
into  dissipation. 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA.  25 

A  year  passed,  another,  a  third,  six  in  all, 
yet  on  this  particular  evening,  as  Mrs.  Nevius 
from  the  head  of  the  table  questioned  him  in 
regard  to  the  possibilities  of  future  income, 
she  was,  if  not  a  bounder,  as  the  word  is  used, 
still  as  far  from  the  inner  sanctuaries  of  upper 
fourdom  as  when  the  doors  were  closing  on  her 
sister's  back. 

At  the  time  being  she  had  no  opportunity 
of  expatiating  on  this  wrong.  A  servant  ap- 
peared and  announced  that  Mr.  Ablaut  was  in 
the  drawing-room. 

Mrs.  Nevius  rose  from  her  seat,  and  her 
husband,  punishing  a  yawn  with  a  tap  of  the 
finger,  made  for  the  library. 

*'If  it  were  Jenny  now,"  his  wife  called 
after  him,  her  eyes  half -closed,  her  chin  up- 
raised, "you  wouldn't  he  in  aueh  a  hurry, 
would  you?" 

j 
$ 


26 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


n. 

"  I  WOULD  rather  have  written  SalammbS 
than  have  built  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  It  was 
more  difficult,  and  besides  it  will  last  longer." 

Mr.  Alphabet"  Jones,  the  novelist,  a 
thimbleful  of  champagne  in  his  throat,  was 
discoursing  to  the  guests  whom  Mrs.  Nevius 
had  assembled. 

*'Yes,  of  course,"  interjected  Mrs.  Anderson, 
a  young  woman  with  the  face  and  manner  of 
a  cocotte.  *'Ah,  yes,"  and  she  smiled  with 
an  air  entendu;     but  does  literature  pay?" 

With  elaborate  manifestations  of  bewilder- 
ment, Jones  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair  : 

"Pay,  Mrs.  Anderson?  Pay,  did  I  under- 
stand you  to  say?  Why,  look  at  Bradshaw. 
Year  in,  year  out,  he  clears  ten  thQUSaud 
pounds  sterling." 


MADAAI   SAPPHIEA.  27 

"  Bradsiiaw  ■?  Bradsliaw?"  Mrs.  Ajiclerson 
shook  lier  liead  vaguely.  '"Oli.  yes,  tlie  author 
of  Ben  Hur.  ■■' 

'"Ce  qu'elle  est  idiofc.''  muttered  Xevius  to 
Miss  Jenny  Adulam.  vrho  sat  at  his  side. 

'•Ce  ciu'eUe  ni'ciuiuic,"  responded  that  young 
woman.  But  her  eyes  said  more  than  the 
"words  conveyed:  they  complimented  Mrs.  An- 
derson with  a  look  of  absolute  abhorrence. 

"TThat  is  if:"''  Xevius  asked,  vho  had  seen 
but  not  understood.    ''What  has  she  done?" 

"  I  can't  tell  you." 

"  But  you  must.  Jenny.'' 

''I  can't:  I  told  Hilda  and  that's  enouofh.'' 

"  Xo,  dear  Mrs.  Anderson,"  Jones  was  say- 
ing. "  Not  Ben  Hur;  you  are  thinking  of  Mr. 
Gunter.  Bradshaw  is  the  author  of  Piabelais, 
Tristram  Shandy  and  the  Bride  of  Lammer- 
moor.'' 

"Yes,  ye-  'I  .-■arse,  but  tli-u  yuu  j^ee  I 
thought  he  was  dead." 


28  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"  Not  dead,,  dear  Mrs.  Anderson,  and  that  is 
just  the  point  I  was  seeking  to  convey.  Dead 
he  is  not,  but  departed,  for  the  artist  never 
dies.  But  how  well  Scalchi  sang  last  night. 
Don't  you  think  her  voice  must  have  been 
changed  in  the  cradle?  " 

From  across  the  dinner- table  Clayton  An- 
derson, a  fat  man  with  a  beard  that  concealed 
the  total  absence  of  chin,  labored  to  the  rescue 
of  his  wife. 

"  By  the  way,  Jones,  that  was  a  nasty  criti* 
cism  the  Saturday  Beview  had  of  your  book. 
Stupid  sheet,  isn't  it?" 

"Stupid?  not  a  bit.  Only  the  year  before 
last  it  had  a  most  excellent  article  on  manure. 
It  is  admirably  edited,  I  assure  you." 

"  By  gad,"  snorted  Anderson,  an  appreciative 
smile  on  his  sodden,  good-natured,  face.  *'If  I 
had  the  editor's  address  I'd  drop  him  a  line 
and  tell  him  what  you  say." 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  29 

"  Drop  it  in  the  sewer,  it  will  get  to  him  in 
time,"  Jones  answered,  and  began  anew  at 
Anderson's  wife. 

Ablaut,  who  sat  at  Mrs.  Nevius'  left — James 
Ablaut,  Jr.,  a  large  red-headed  man,  who 
dripped  platitude  and  exhaled  stupidity  from 
every  pore,  yet  the  son  of  a  Patriarch  and  as 
such  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  social  power 
— grinned  contentedly  at  his  truffles. 

Mrs.  Nevius  turned  to  the  novelist:  "Tell 
me,"  she  said,  in  reference  to  an  episode  which 
was  then  occupying  not  only  society  but  the 
newspapers  of  two  worlds  as  well — a  husband 
who,  surprising  his  wdfe  with  her  lover,  had 
killed  the  latter  almost  in  the  woman's  arms. 
"  Tell  me,  what  do  you  think  of  the  Ex  affair. 
Is  it  not  terrible?" 

"Terrible  in  its  selfishness^  yes,"  Jones 
answered.  "And  still  more  terrible  in  its  bad 
taste." 


80  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

"We  men  of  the  world — "  Ablaut,  anxious 
to  get  an  oar  in,  began,  but  Jones  was  too 
quick  for  him. 

"There's  a  plural  that  is  singular.  Now, 
Mrs.  Carol,  since  you  do  me  the  honor  to  ask 
my  opinion,  I  think  it  was  Ex's  duty  to  have 
made  himself  more  attractive  to  his  wife  than 
any  one  else  could,  but  having  failed,  having 
seen  that  he  failed,  the  dog-in-the-manger  act 
which  he  committed  was  abominable.  If  any 
shooting  was  necessary  it  was  himself  he  should 
have  shot.  But  all  that  sort  of  thing  is  out  of 
date  and  bad  form  too.  A  man  of  the  world 
never  sees  or  hears  anything  that  was  not  in- 
tended for  him. 

"  You  think  he  ought  not  to  have  made  a 
fuss  then?  Well,  perhaps;  but  when  a  man 
surprises  his  wife  in  that  way  " 

"  He  should  apologize  for  the  intrusion." 

"And  do  nothing?" 


MADAM  BAPPHIRA.  Bl 

Oh,  if  he  really  feels  the  need  of  satisfac- 
tion, he  might  express  some  astonishment  and 
say  to  the  lover,  'Is  it  possible,  sir,  that  you 
are  embracing  that  lady  without  being  obliged 
to?'  A  little  remark  of  that  kind  can  be  as 
effective  as  a  bullet  and  has  the  advantage  of 
not  raising  the  roof." 

''Stuff  and  nonsense,"  objected  Anderson 
pompously.  "  This  man  was  a  snake  in  the 
grass.  He  was  Ex's  friend  and  under  cover  of 
that  friendship  he  led  his  wife  astray.  In 
Ex's  place  I  should  have  done  the  same  thing." 

From  where  Mrs.  Anderson  sat  came  a 
ripple  of  laughter  which  silenced  her  husband 
strangely.  Jones  turned  to  him  with  serious 
mien : 

"  No,  dear  boy,  permit  me.  A  woman  is 
never  led  astray.  She  trots,  or  gallops  or  bolts 
astray,  but  never  is  she.  led.  Lovelace,  Faust, 
Don  Juan,  rolled  into  one,  are  helpless  where 


32  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

virtue  is.  Besides,  in  these  days  a  man  nevv.!- 
makes  the  first  advances,  he  hasn't  time.  It  is 
the  woman,  always  the  woman,  who — " 

"  Dear  me!  "  Mrs.  Nevius  was  making  a  fine 
show  of  indignation.  "  Dear  me,  are  all  women 
as  bad  as  those  in  your  books?  Haven't  you 
ever  met  any  with  a  conscience  ?" 

"Plenty,  Mrs.  Carol.  Plenty.  Some  even 
with  two." 

And  as  the  novelist  through  his  shrewd,  tor- 
toise-rimmed glasses  gazed  at  his  hostess,  that 
lady  lowered  her  eyes. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  table  Nevius  was 
chatting  inaudibly  with  Miss  Adulam,  a  girl 
less  pretty  than  fetching,  small  of  feature,  with 
the  flush  of  youth  still  in  her  face  and  about 
her  that  intangible  something  discernible  only 
in  the  end-of-the-century  virgin  of  higher  New 
York  life,  that  air  which,  while  indicating  total 
incapacity  for  wrong-doing,  indicates  also  a  per- 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  33 

feet  compreliensiou  that  wrong-doing  exists;  in 
short,  a  girl  to  whom  a  man  may  talk  without 
the  disheartening  dread  of  seeming  to  say  more 
than  he  means.  Nevius  had  known  her  when 
she  was  in  short  frocks,  and  a  few  years  pre- 
vious, encountering  her  haphazard  in  Paris,  had 
made  her  acquainted  with  his  wife.  Since  then 
the  two  had  been  much  together,  Mrs.  Nevius, 
who  understood  perfectly  the  advantages  which 
a  married  woman  possesses  in  the  companion- 
ship of  a  decorative  young  woman  that  can  be 
relied  upon  to  hold  her  tongue,  having  grappled 
her  to  her  heart  with  hooks  of  steel. 

"  So  you  are  not  going  to  Tuxedo,'"'  the  girl 
was  saying,  though  less  for  information  per- 
haps than  for  conversation's  sake. 

"Xo,  why  should  !•?•' 

"Hilda  goes  to-morrow  with  the  Andersons 
and  Ablaut." 

"  Ah!  I  knew  nothing  of  it.   I  did  not  even 

3 


34  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

know  they  were  to  be  here  to-night.  You  either, 
for  that  matter.  Hilda  only  told  me  when  I 
got  up-town.  But  what  is  this  about  Tuxedo?" 

The  girl  shrugged  a  shoulder.  "  Some  party 
they  have  made  up.    You  don't  mind?" 

"  It  wouldn't  matter  much  if  I  did,  I  fancy. 
Though  if  I  seem  to,  it  is  only  because  of 
Mrs.  Anderson,  who  is  common  as — as,  well, 
let  us  say  Narragansett  Pier." 

"She  is  your  guest,"  Miss  Adulam  mur- 
mured. 

"Very  true."  And  for  the  moment  Nevius 
subsided. 

Presently  there  was  a  general  move  to  the 
adjoining  room.  There  Nevius  sat  with  the 
girl,  Jones  occupying  himself  for  literary  pur- 
poses in  drawing  Mrs.  Anderson  out,  the  other 
men  dividing  their  hostess'  attention.  But  by 
eleven,  husband  and  wife  were  alone. 

As  the  front  door  closed  for  the  last  time, 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  35  ' 

Nevius  -went  over  to  where  his  wife  was  seated. 
"I  have  been  having  a  chat  with  Jenny." 
"So  I  saw." 

"  What  is  it  that  Mrs.  Anderson  has  been 
doing  to  her  ?  " 

Mrs.  Nevins  opened  her  great  blue  eyes  in 
wonder. 

"  Doing  to  her?  I  am  sure  I  don't  know. 
What  do  you  mean?" 

"Jenny  said  she  had  told  you." 

"  Oh,  what  nonsense.  Dulcibella  happened 
to  be  a  little  friendly  with  her  and  she  went  to 
work  and  imagined  all  sorts  of  things." 

Nevius  stared  at  his  wife  very  blankly. 

"I  don't  understand.  What  did  she  im- 
agine?" 

"  How  do  I  know?  She's  probably  got  her 
head  farcie  with  the  Deiix  Amies  or  some  simi- 
lar twaddle  and  is  capable  of  imagining  any- 
thing. Give  me  a  cigarette  will  you?  It's 
not  worth  talking  about," 


36  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

Nevius  went  back  to  the  dining-room,  but 
when  he  returned  his  face  was  grave. 

"  Do  you  know,  Hilda,  I  wish  you  would 
drop  that  woman.  What  you  tell  me  is  not 
reassuring,  but,  independent  of  that,  she  has 
neither  manners,  breeding  nor  brains.  And 
how  should  she!  Her  grandfather  was  a 
Tweedringer,  her  father  the  receiver  of  stolen 
goods,  and  yet  in  the  List  she  has  got 
her  maiden  name  down  as  Wainwaring;  why 
she  is  no  more  a  Wainwaring  than  you  are." 

"  That  is  one  of  her  middle  names,  I  think," 
Mrs.  Nevius  answered  remotely.  "  But  even 
otherwise,  what  does  it  matter  ?  How  can  you 
be  so  old-fashioned?  Nowadays  people  don't 
expect  a  patent  of  nobility  in  everyone  they 
meet;  what  they  do  expect  is  money.  Bella 
has  a  hundred  thousand  a  year  and  no  one 
would  object  if  she  called  herself  a  Knicker- 
bocker.   Besides,  is  it  her  fault  about  her 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


37 


grandfather?  I  dare  say  if  we  got  down  to 
bottom  facts  the  original  Nevius  was  no 
better." 

"  The  original  Nevius  was  a  Latin  poet,  but 
that's  neither  here  nor  there.  I  won't  have 
her  at  dinner.  She's  a  woman  with  preferences 
for  everybody  and  attractions  for  none." 

"  She  is  nothing  of  the  sort,  she  is  very 
pretty,  and  anyway  there  is  no  use  in  your 
picking  up  Alphabet  Jones'  cigarette  stumps. 
He  never  means  a  word  he  says;  he  talks  and 
talks  just  for  effect.  I  am  tired  and  sick  of 
him.  Did  you  notice  the  way  he  spoke  to 
Ablaut  to-night  ?  He  doesn't  seem  to  be  aware 
of  the  difference  in  their  positions." 

Nevius  smiled  helplessly  and  tugged  at  his 
moustache.  ''I  think  he  is,  but  I  am  quite 
sure  he  would  not  try  to  wound  Ablaut  by  re- 
ferring to  it.    Here,  Michette!  " 

A  black  monster,  amber  of  eye,  the  neck 


38  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

furred  like  a  rufiP,  the  tail  fluttering  like  a  ban- 
ner, gazed  through  the  portiere.  Leisurely  it 
promenaded  a  haughty  stare,  interrogating  the 
escritoire,  the  pedestalled  lamps,  the  yellow 
shaded  candles,  the  grave  hangings,  capa- 
cious chairs,  cushioned  lounges,  plants,  flowers 
and  knicknacks  with  which  the  high-ceiled 
room  was  provided.  Then,  assured  that  all 
intruders  had  gone,  it  stepped  gingerly  and 
circuitously  to  where  Nevius  sat  and  with  a 
sudden  purr  bounded  to  his  side. 

«  There  Michette,  I  know  all  about  it.  You 
don't  like  strangers  any  more  than  I  do.  Do 
you,  you  lobster?  " 

Michette  opened  and  closed  his  eyes  and 
purred  profusely. 

"  And  you  have  not  the  remotest  desire  to 
go  to  Tuxedo,  have  you?  " 

A  thin  smile  came  and  vanished  in  the  cor-> 
ners  of  Mrs.  Nevius'  mouth. 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA.  39  ' 

"  Did  Jenny  tell  you  that,  too  ?  " 
"  That  Michette— 
"Don't  be  absurd." 

"  Yes,  she  said  you  Avere  all  off  to-morrow. 

do  hope  you  won't  be  gone  long." 

"  But,  Carol,  when  I  am  here  you  see  noth- 
ing of  me.  You  come  in  just  in  time  for  din- 
ner, and  after  that  you  are  either  talking  busi- 
ness or  writing  letters.  Oh,  I  know  what  you 
are  going  to  say — that  you  are  trying  to  make 
a  fortune — but  what  good  does  that  do  me? 
I  want  to  go  out.  I  want  to  entertain  and  be 
entertained.  I  want  to  lead  the  life  that  my 
friends  do;  and,  instead  of  that,  I  might  just 
as  well  be  at  Bronx.  You  won't  go  to  the 
opera,  you  won't  go  to  the  assemblies;  last 
winter  you  would  not  even  take  me  to 
Mrs.  Bleecker's.  If  once  in  a  century  I 
ask  people  to  dinner,  unless  you  have 
Jenny  on  one  side  of  you  and  Jones  within 


40  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

call,  you  don't  speak.  Aud  if  it  were  my  friends 
alone  that  you  snubbed!  But  you  won't  even 
speak  to  my  own  family.  There  was  a  time 
when  my  mother  used  to  beg  me  to  bring  you 
there.  Now  she  never  mentions  your  name. 
My  father  says  you  cut  him  in  the  street. 
But  don't  you  know  that  you  are  making 
yourself  very  well  hated?  The  lecture  you 
have  read  me  about  Bella  Anderson  is  all  very 
well,  but  it  would  be  the  same  thing  in  regard 
to  any  one  else ;  it  always  has  been.  You  ob- 
jected to  Viola  Earitan,  to  the  Yardes,  to  the 
Jerolomons,  to  this  woman,  that  man  and  the 
other.    Do  you  know  what  I  think?  " 

And  Mrs.  Nevius,  in  spite  of  her  manifest 
indignation,  smiled  frostily. 

*'Do  you  know  what  I  think?  You  want  a 
wife  simply  for  domestic  purposes;  to  pay  the 
bills,  talk  to  tradesmen,  see  that  the  machinery 
runs  smooth;  to  be  your  housekeeper  by  day 
and  your  mistress  at  night" 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  41 

"  At  least  I  Avant  no  other  wife  than  yon.  It 
may  be  selfish,  of  me  to  act  as  I  do;  no  donbt 
it  is,  but  since  I  have  got  into  these  companies 
I  haven't  a  moment/'* 

Mrs.  Xevius,  whose  cigarette  had  gone  out, 
relighted  it,  and  for  a  while  puffed  meditatively. 
Presently  the  cigarette  was  put  aside,  lier 
features  relaxed,  and  she  looked  up  at  her  hus- 
band with  great  amiability. 

"  There,  Carol,  forgive  me.  I  am  out  of 
sorts.  I  knovv'  you  work  hard;  say  the  word, 
and  I  wont  go  to  Tuxedo.'' 

"  But  Hilda,  I  am  delighted  to  have  you  go 
if  it  amuses  you.    The  only  thing  is—" 

"Well,  what?" 

"Your  companions." 

"  What  a  goose  you  are.  The  Andersons  are 
received.  Whate^-er  you  may  say.  Belle  is  per- 
fectly presentable. 

"Oh  I  don't  mean  to  imply  that  she  eats 


42 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 


sweets  with  a  spoon ;  nor  was  it  so  much  of  her 
I  was  thinking.  Ablaut  is  all  very  well  in  his 
way,  but  don't  you  think  he  is  too  much  in 
yours  ?  Don't  you  think  if  he  is  tagging  after 
you  down  there  that  people  will  gossip?" 

Mrs.  Nevius  gave  a  twist  to  her  skirt  and 
laughed  for  sheer  joy. 

"You  dear  thing,  are  you  jealous?  Tell 
me,  Carol,  are  you  ?  " 

Nevius  tormented  the  tip  of  his  nose  reflect 
ively  and  glanced  at  his  wife.  She  looke(? 
the  embodiment  of  merriment,  of  coquetry 
too,  of  grace  as  well,  and  prettier  even,  more 
tantalizing  and  tentative  than  in  the  old  pre- 
nuptial  days.  No,  he  was  not  jealous  and 
said  so. 

"  Now  see,  "  she  continued,  straighteniLg 
herself  and  distributing  wide  breezes  from  an 
enormous  fan.  "  See  how  little  jealous  I  am. 
Every  evening  while  I  am  away,  Jenny  is  to 
dine  with  you. " 


mada:^!  sapphiea.  43 

"  You  don't  mean  that  you  asked  lier! " 

"  I  did  then,  and  she  said  she  would  like 
nothing  better. " 

"But  won't  the  servants  think  it  odd?" 

Mrs.  Nevius  gave  him  a  curious,  investigat- 
ing look. 

"  What  are  the  servants'  thoughts  to  you?  " 

"  Nothino:.  It  was  Jennv  I  was  considerino^." 

"  She  cares  as  little  as  you  do.  If  I  ask  her, 
who  is  to  object?"' 

"  Not  I,  certainly.  Jenny  is  very  sweet,  I 
am  very  fond  of  her,  and  if  she  comes  I  shall 
take  it  as  very  kind  of  her,  but  she  is  not  you. 
It  is  you  I  want.  " 

He  leaned  forward;  there  was  a  light  in  his 
eyes  which  she  saw  and  recognizeds  but  before 
he  could  reach  her  she  was  on  her  feet. 

"  There,  Carol,  behave.  I  am  tired,  and  be- 
sides, anyone  would  think  we  were  on  our 
honeymoon  still.  " 


4:4 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 


III. 

"This  is  really  delightful  of  you.  I  had 
hardly  ventured  to  hope — " 

*'  If  you  are  going  to  be  formal,  Carol,  J 
won't  stay.  " 

Miss  Adulam,  preceded  by  Michette,  was  en. 
tering  the  drawing-room.  Such  outer  wrapt*, 
as  she  may  have  worn  had  been  laid  aside,  but 
her  frock,  cut  sufficiently  low  in  the  neck  to  be 
suitable  for  evening  wear,  had  none  of  tho  in- 
signia of  festival. 

And  now,  as  she  stood  holding  a  hand  to  him, 
there  was  about  her  a  little  simple  air  of  dig- 
nity which  a  princess  might  seek  and  got  not. 

"I  won't  be  called  formal.  I  am  jiot  for- 
mal."  AndNevius,  raising  the  hand,  i  iuehed 
the  wrist  with  his  lips. 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA,  45 

From  between  the  curtains  at  the  end  of  the 
room  a  servant  appeared,  anniinciant  of  dinner. 

"  But  it  is  good  of  you,  he  continued.  "  It 
is  "svorth  while  to  be  a  bachelor  to  have  such 
compensation  as  this. " 

Miss  Adulam  withdrew  the  hand. 

"  If  Hilda  had  not  insisted  I  should  not  be 
here,  "  she  said;  "but  she  has  been  so  good 
to  me  that  it  seemed  stupid  to  refuse,  particu- 
larly as  it  appeared,  sir,  that  if  I  had,  you 
would  not  have  let  her  go.  " 

"Aha!  I'm  a  tyrant  now,  am  I?  All  the 
same,  Miss,  I  wish  you  would  try  to  imply  that 
you  are  here  just  a  little  for  me.  " 

"  But  I  am,"  the  girl  exclaimed.  "Eeally  I 
am.  If  I  were  not  very  fond  of  you  do  you 
suppose  I  should  be  here  at  all  ?  " 

"  There,  thaf  s  something  like,  that's  my  dear 
old  Jenny.  Now  let's  go  in  and  see  what  we 
are  to  have  to  eat.    But  afterward  you  must 


46  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

play.  When  I  was  younger,  oh !  ever  so  much 
younger,  I  swore  a  great  oath  that  I  would  never 
marry  a  girl  that  did  not.  And  Hilda,  who  did 
play  at  the  time,  has  not  touched  a  piano  since. 
Her  hand  is  no  longer  big  enough  for  the 
octaves,  if  you  please.  That's  the  way  we  men 
get  cheated.  There!" 

Nevius  had  seated  his  guest  and  taken  the 
seat  at  her  side. 

"Put  my  things  here,"  he  called  to  the 
servant,  for  his  place  had  been  arranged  at  the 
other  end.  *'And  what  is  there  to  drink? 
Champagne  and  claret?  No,  I  want  moselle 
and  seltzer.  Serve  the  champagne  to  Miss 
Adulam.  You  won't  have  claret,  will  you? 
By  George,  I  believe  these  are  Mumford  coves. 
I  take  that  as  being  very  thoughtful  of  Hilda, 
Mainienani,''^  he  added  with  just  a  glance  to 
where  the  servant  stood.  "  Causons.  Et  nos 
amour  sf 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  47 

"That's  hardly  the  expression,  is  it  ? The 
girl  answered  in  French.  "But  after  all  he  is 
so  nice  that  call  it  what  you  like." 

"He's  a  deuced  lucky  fellow,  that's  all  I 
have  got  to  say  about  him." 

"Not  so  lucky,  Carol.  Not  a  penny,  not 
one." 

"xlnd  what  of  it?  When  I  married  I  hadn't 
a  penny  either.  But  it's  idiocy  of  him  to  stick 
in  Texas.  He  won't  make  anything  in  cattle. 
That  day  has  gone.  This  is  the  era  of  syndi- 
cates and  New^  York  is  their  home.  Make  him 
come  back,  Jenny.  I  can  put  him  up  to  any 
number  o£  things.  Nevius  and  Tredegar!  How 
does  that  sound?" 

"Beautifully.  Carol.  But  Jack  won't  do  it. 
Tou  know  how  obstinate  he  is ;  once  an  idea  in 
his  head  and  only  a  surgical  operation  could 
get  it  out." 

"And  his  heart?" 


48  Madam  sapphirA. 

Miss  Adulam  smiled  demurely. 

"Anyway,"  Nevius  persisted,  "you  have 
so^ioetliiiig  of  your  owil" 

"Eventually  I  shall  have  something;  a  hun- 
dred thousand,  perhaps,  but  not  more." 

"  But  that's  very  neat.  You  could  live  com- 
fortably on  it  in  Paris  and  luxuriously  in  Flor- 
ence. Of  course  it's  not  much  here,  and  noth- 
ing at  all  in  London.  And  you  wouldn't  care 
to  live  anywhere  else,  would  you?  After  all. 
New  York  would  be  a  mighty  nice  place, 
if  it  were  not  for  the  New  Yor.^iers.  Don't 
you  think  so?" 

"  Here,"  he  called  in  EnglisJi  to  the  serv- 
ant. "Give  Miss  Adulam  some  more  cham- 
pagne, and  I  want  some  more  seltzer,  "What 
is  there  after  this?  Quails?  I  hate  quails. 
Never  have  them  again." 

He  turned  to  the  girl. 

"Does  he  write  often?" 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  49 

^'Who?    Jack?    Every  day." 
*'And  what  does  lie  say?" 
^^Mais,  Monsieur,  vous  me  demandez  des 
Glioses  /" 

"I  didn't  mean  that."  And  Nevius  shook 
with  laughter.  "  Though  I  can  fancy,  of 
course,"  he  added  after  a  pause,  which  he  pur- 
posely made  significant. 

'  You  are  very  impertinent,  sir,  and  I  am 
going  home." 

"  Yes,  of  course.  And  that  is  just  the  odd 
thing;  it  is  always  an  impertinence  to  divine 
a  woman's  thoughts.  Her  wishes  passe  en- 
core^ 

"Why,  aren't  you  ashamed  of  yourself?" 
and  the  girl  turned  on  him  a  look  which  was 
meant  to  be  quite  severe  yet  was  not.  "  I  am 
afraid  Alphabet  Jones  is  corrupting  your  good 
manners." 

"Do  you  know,  Hilda  said  sgijietling  of  the 


50'  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

sort  last  ni^ht.  By  the  way,  she  intimated  the 
other  eveoing  that  Ablaut  was  in  Jove  with 
you." 

Carol!'' 

"  She  said  something  to  the  effect  that  he 
came  here  more  to  see  you  than  anyone  else.  I 
shall  tell  Jack,  Miss  Jenny,  mind  that." 

With  an  inappositeness  which  afterward 
was  to  occur  to  Nevius  as  curious  in  the  ex- 
treme, the  girl  became  abruptly  barometric. 

"  Wasn't  it  nice  this  afternoon,  so  cold  and 
brisk!" 

"Cold?  yes,  it  was  certainly  that,  but  I 
don't  know  what  your  idea  of  niceness  is.  It 
rained  pitchforks  down  town,  didn't  it  rain 
here?    Why,  Jenny,  you  are  crying!" 

But  not  a  bit.  The  phantoms  of  twin  tears 
had  come  and  gone.  Miss  Adulam  was  mis- 
tress of  herself  at  once." 

Poor  Jack,"  sbo  p^iirmurecl, 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  51 

"  Why,  you  foolish  thing,"  expostulated 
Nevius  with  much  noise  and  indignation. 
"Damn  Jack.  No,  forgive  me,  I  didn't  mean 
that.  I  don't  know  what  I  meant.  I  was  onlj 
jesting  anyway. 

"  What's  all  this,"  he  cried  furiously  at  the 
seryant.  "  Carry  it  all  away  and  serve  the 
cotfee  in  the  other  room."' 

"  Come,  Jenny,"  he  added  in  another  tongue 
and  milder  tone.  "  Let's  have  a  cigarette  in 
English." 

Michette,  who  lay,  a  ball  of  fur,  before  the 
fire,  stared  indolently  at  their  approach,  then, 
his  back  arched,  his  tail  full  as  a  bludgeon, 
made  crab-like  zigzags  across  a  rug. 

"  I  know  what  you  want,  you  lobster,  you 
want  some  music  to  dance  to." 

And  presently,  the  cofiPee  disposed  of,  Nevius 
and  Miss  Adulam  took  seats  at  the  piano  and 
played  a  successioij  of  resounding  duets. 


62  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

Whether  Michette  accompanied  them  with 
pirouettes  and  entrechats  is  not  a  part  of  his- 
tory. The  duets  continued  until,  during  a 
wonderful  series  of  resounding  accords,  there 
came  a  ring,  and  Miss  Adulam  stood  up. 

"  Thank  you,  Jenny.    That  went  off  very 

well,  didn't  it?  And  you  will  come  to-morrow? 
You  are  sure  it  doesn't  bore  you?  " 

In  a  brotherly  fashion  he  drew  the  girl  to 
him  and  kissed  her  pure  brow. 

"Miss  Adulam's  maid." 

A  portiere  had  been  drawn.  The  servant 
entered  and  disappeared. 

"Yes,  certainly,  I  will  come." 

Nevius  followed  her  to  the  hall,  aided  her 
with  her  cloak,  accompanied  her  to  the  cab, 
and,  as  he  re-entered  the  house,  told  himself 
that  it  would  not  be  a  bad  idea  at  all  to  see 
what  effect  a  letter  from  him  might  have  on 
the  obstinacy  of  Mm  Adulam's  lover. 


Madam  sapphiha 


58 


TV. 

A  WEEK  passed.  Once  Nevius  read  of  his 
wife's  presence  at  the  country  club  to  which  she 
had.  gone,  and  once  she  wrote.  But  the  letter 
was  brief,  relating  mainly  to  household  affairs 
and  conveying  but  meager  details  as  to  the 
writer's  occupation  and  environments. 

Meanwhile  Miss  Adulam  had  been  almost  as 
good  as  her  word.  She  had  dined  at  Tenth 
street  twice  and  on  the  intervening  Sunday 
had  lunched  there  as  well. 

On  that  evening  Nevius  dined  with  Michette. 
The  cat  was  loquacious,  but  its  loquacity  was 
not  of  the  interruptive  order,  and  as  it  mono- 
logued  interminably  on  ^\hat  seemed  to  be  the 
same  subject,  Nevius  felt  bored.  As  a  relief, 
the  cloili  removed,  he  wrote  to  his  wife. 


64  MADAM  SAPPHlM. 

That  pleasure  at  an  end,  the  boredom  re- 
turned, loneliness  as  well,  and  for  companion- 
ship's sake  he  looked  in  at  the  Athenseum  club 
where  he  ran  into  Alphabet  Jones  and  man- 
aged to  kill  an  hour. 

"  I  hear  you  are  making  money,"  the  novel- 
ist between  two  whiffs  remarked.  "  I  hear  you 
have  enough  to  burn." 

"  I  wish  I  had.  No,  I  may  have  to  go  to 
Chicago  in  a  day  or  two,  I  am  afraid  even  that 
I  may  have  to  go  abroad." 

"  It  wouldn't  frighten  me  a  bit  if  I  had  to. 
Will  your  princess  go  too  ?" 

"  Oh,  of  course."  And  Nevius  nodded  with 
an  air  of  assured  conviction.  "  But  how  is  the 
Muse  ?   What  are  you  writing  now  ? 

"  Cheques,  dear  boy,"  Jones  answered  neg- 
ligently.      Cheques,  that's  all." 

"I  thought  you  had  something  on  the 
stocks." 


MADAM   SAPPHIRA  55 

Stocks  is  the  word.  The  pillorj  comes 
later." 

"  Your  books  are  too  confounded  cynical. 
Alphabet.    The  public  don't  like  it." 

"  But  did  I  invent  human  nature?"  And  the 
novelist  looked  at  his  friend  with  an  air  rumi- 
nant and  bovine  in  its  innocence. 

"I  don't  believe,"  retorted  Nevius,  "I  don't 
believe  at  all  that  it  is  human  nature  for  women 
to  act  as  they  do  in  your  books.  Anyone  migh' 
think  that  New  York  was  peopled  with  demi- 
reps." 

"  Perhaps.  But  then  you  see  every  one  isn't 
blessed  as  you  are." 

"  No,  that's  a  fact,  I  admit.  But  even  so, 
what  is  the  use  in  choosing  such  subjects?" 

"I  choose  a  subject!  Why,  dear  boy,  a 
writer,  if  he  happens  to  be  worth  his  syndicate, 
never  chooses  a  subject.  The  subject  chooses 
him.    He  writes  what  he  must,  not  what  he 


56  MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 

might.  That's  a  thing  that  the  public  can^t 
understand.  The  secret  of  any  work  of  value 
lies  in  the  harmony  existing  between  the  sub- 
ject and  the  author.  And  even  then  his  one 
chance  of  success  consists  not  only  in  yielding 
to  the  subject  but  in  caressing  it.  Every  artist 
knows  that.  Flaubert  has  rung  his  changes  on 
it  a  thousand  times. 

"Oh,  well,  if  you  bring  up  yot.r  heavy  artil- 
lery I  surrender.  After  all  I  don't  mean  to 
abuse  you." 

"But  I  love  10  have  you.  The  next  time 
voi7  have  a  moment  skim  over  a  history,  and 
then  come  and  tell  me  the  name  of  one  man  of 
ability  who  has  not  been  abused.  And  the 
greater  the  ability,  the  greater  the  abuse.  It 
is  the  tribute  that  failure  pays  to  success. 
Mediocrity  is  never  discussed,  and,  being  un- 
forgiving, resents  it.  As  for  my  books,  if  they 
please  no  one,  doubtless  they  are  poor,  but  if 


Madam  sapphira.  51 

they  pleased  everybody  I  should  consider  them 
rot.  Vox  populi,  vox  shiUi.  The  majority  is 
always  wrong.  What  would  a  Scotch  and  soda 
say  to  you?" 

*'  That  I  am  vile  and  vicious  I  suppose.  No 
thanks.    I  think  I  will  be  getting  home." 

"  By  the  way,  if  you  and  Madame  go  abroad, 
will  Ablaut  and  Miss  Adulam  join  you?" 
No,  why  should  they?" 

Jones  lit  a  match  and  fumblt^d  for  a  cigar- 
ette. "Are  you  sure  you  won't  have  anything? 
Where  is  that  devilish  case  gone  now!  Ah, 
yes,  here  it  is." 

"Why  did  you  ask?"  Nevins  repeated. 

Jones  glanced  about  the  room.  "  For  no 
reason,  dear  boy,"  he  murmured  apologet- 
ically. "  For  no  reason.  I  had  got  to  look 
upon  you  all  as  a  family  party,  don't  you  se»3, 
and  it  occurred  to  me  that — that — it  occurred 
to  me — " 


58  MADAM  SAPPHIRa 

Irritated  by  this  mummery  and  hesitation. 
Nevius  got  from  his  seat.  "  I  don't  know 
what  can  have  occurred  to  you,  (*)at  if  you 
fancy  for  one  instant  that  anything,  even  pia- 
tonism,  exists  between  Ablaut  and  Jenny  Adu- 
1am,  I  may  just  as  well  tell  you  that  you  are 
ofe,  'way  off.'" 

"  I  should  think  so;"  and  Jones  smiled  in 
his  beard.  "  No,  indeed.  Wait  a  second,  dear 
boy.  No,  indeed,  I  never  gave  the  matter  a 
thought.  But  that  subject  of  platonism  now  is 
really  very  interesting.  Speaking  in  the  ab- 
stract of  course,  I  believe  in  it,  but  not  as  you 
do.  I  think  that  the  affection  a  nice  girl  may 
have  for  a  man  who  is  neither  her  brother  nor 
her  lover,  a  man  I  mean  with  whom  she  is  con- 
stantly thrown  in  contact,  is  often  of  that  order. 
But  it  is  different  with  the  man.  It  seems  to 
me  that  however  pure  at  heart  he  may  be,  how- 
ever honest  in  intention,  nature  is  apt  to  leseut 


Madam  sapphiea. 

that  negation  of  sex.  And  it  is  for  that  reason 
that  platonic  affection,  or,  more  exactly,  recip- 
rocal platonism,  is  discoverable  only  among 
married  people.  Nature  having  had  her  way, 
has  no  slights  to  resent,  and  occupies  herself, 
if  at  all,  in  directing  the  attention  of  the 
parties  to  the  possibility  of  other  enterprises. 
In  such  circumstances  there  are  women  who, 
noting  in  their  husbands  a  decreasing  desire 
for  the  pleasures  of  the  ieie-a-iefe,  appeal  to 
the  courts.  There  are  others  astute  enough 
to  understand  that  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of 
man  to  subsist  on  a  single  dish,  and  sufficient- 
ly refined  not  to  give  that  bit  of  information  to 
the  newspapers.  But  there  are  also  women 
whose  fastidiousness  is  such  that  they  are  the 
first  to  desire  a  change  in  the  menu.  When 
this  occurs  there  are  husbands  that  return  to 
the  animal  state  and  shriek  for  blood;  there 
are  others  of   finer   braed   who  collaborate 


60  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

with  their  wives  in  an  effort  to  observe  the 
courtesies  and  amenities  of  civilized  life  while 
agreeing  that  individual  tastes  shall  suffer  no 
interference.  Now  there  you  have  true  platon- 
ism,  the  ideal  state  in  which  the  ancients  in- 
structed us,  the — " 

"Ideal  state  of  pigsty,"  Nevius  gruffly  inter- 
rupted. '  What's  all  this  rubbish  you  are  re- 
hearsing on  me?" 

Amused  and  vatic,  Jones  set  about  polishing 
an  eye-glass. 

"Rubbish,  is  it,  dear  boy?  Well,  perhaps; 
but  then  we  have  been  merely  exchanging 
ideas.    Do  have  a  liquor." 

"No.    I'm  off.  Good-night." 

Jones  watched  him  go  and  nodded  confiden- 
tially to  himself,  "ie  menage  a  trois,  c'esi 
encore  joU.  Mais  a  quatre  !  Non,  c^est  (Tun 
pur  /" 


61 


Y. 

Mes.  Carol's  return  was  iiBlierakleil.  One 
evening  after  a  dinner  at  the  Down-Town  Club. 
Xevius  found  lier  entrancing  as  an  angel,  iDut 
far  better  garbed,  outstretclied  in  the  drawing- 
room.  From  beDeath  the  hem  of  the  skirt  the 
gold  clock-work  of  a  stocking  glistened,  the 
blue  eyes  that  met  his  own  were  languid  and 
sultry,  and  as  he  bent  over  to  kiss  her  there 
rose  to  greet  him  the  fresh  odors  of  iris  and  of 
health. 

"There,  don't  muss  me  up." 

Unabashed  Xevius  drew  a  chair  to  where 
she  lav.  and  taking  her  hand  held  it  in  his  own. 

"I  can  never  tell  you  how  glad  I  am.  And 
I  have  wanted  you  so.  You  enjoyed  yourself, 
I  hope.  Tell  me  all  about  it.  Are  you  glad 
to  be  back?'' 


62  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

Mrs.  Nevius  withdrew  the  hand  he  held,  and 
with  two  fingers  patted  a  yawn. 

"  Of  course  I  am  glad  to  be  back.  Carol, 
do  be  careful,"  she  admonished,  for  he  had 
bent  toward  her  again.  "  There's  some  one 
there.  Of  course  I  am  glad  to  be  back.  I 
hate  living  in  a  trunk.    What  is  it,  Rebecca?  " 

The  servant  had  entered;  a  note  on  a  tray. 

"A  letter  for  you,  mem.  And  there's  an 
answer,  mem." 

Nevius  moved  his  chair.  His  wife  stood  up 
and  went  forward  to  a  lamp.    There  she  turned. 

"  You  are  not  going  out,  are  you?  " 

And  as  Nevius  shook  his  head,  she  made  a 
motion  to  the  servant." 

"  I  will  ring." 

The  woman  left  the  room,  and  Mrs.  Nevius, 
seating  herself  at  the  escritoire,  busied  her- 
self with  pen  and  paper. 

«*Wbom  k  it  from,  Hilda?" 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  63 

The  question  must  hR,ve  entangled  lier 
thoughts.  She  took  the  sheet  on  which  she 
was  writing,  tore  it  up  and  tossed  it  aside. 

How  can  I  write  if  you  keep  talking  to  me  ?" 
she  asked  almost  piteously.  "It's  from  Fran- 
ces." 

Frances  was  her  sister,  Mrs.  Montrion,  and 
as  Nevius  gathered  up  the  Post  and  tried  to 
lose  himself  in  the  advertisements,  the  name 
evoked  a  series  of  incidents  that  were  not  at 
all  to  his  taste.  There  was  the  liaison  with  a 
dyspeptic  boor,  which,  however,  had  interested 
him  remotely,  if  at  all,  until  Mrs.  Montrion 
took  it  into  her  head  to  have  herself  and  the 
cavaliere  servente  chaperoned  by  Hilda  during 
a  trip  abroad.  At  that  he  had  rebelled,  and 
his  rebellion  had  not  been  lessened  on  learning 
the  object,  which  was  to  enable  the  Snaiths, 
during  Mrs.  Montrion's  absence,  to  secure  evi- 
dono©  against  that  lady's  husband,  whereby 


64  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

she  might  obtain  a  divorce  and  marry  her 
lover.  But  the  plot  had  fallen  through.  Mon- 
trion  was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with,  and  his 
wife  grew  timorous  of  results.  Then,  too,  the 
cavaliere  servenie^  after  the  fashion  of  his 
kind,  had  bestowed  his  services  elsewhere. 
The  subject  was  not  agreeable,  and  to  dismiss 
it  Nevius  tried  to  lose  himself  in  the  columns 
of  the  Post  Before  he  succeeded,  the  answer 
was  written,  dispatched  as  well,  and  Hilda  re- 
turned to  the  sofa. 

Nevius  threw  the  paper  aside.  "If  you  are 
glad  to  be  back,"  he  began  with  a  bad  attempt 
at  banter,  "  at  least  you  are  not  enthusiastic." 

"But  what  do  you  expect?  Here  I  am 
tired  out,  and  besides  after  what  you  wrote  I 
thought  you  would  be  on  your  way  to 
Chicago." 

Yes,  I  remember.  But  I  found  it  was  not 
iiecessary  and  I  am  glad  now  it  wa^  not.  J 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  db 

only  wish  you  had  wired.  If  I  dined  down 
town  it  was  only  because  it  is  less  appalling 
than  the  house  when  tou  are  o^one.'' 

Mrs.  Xevius  smiled  with  bright  frostiness. 
But  you  have  had  Jenny  all  the  time. 
Dear  me,  Carol,  what  do  you  want?    A  se- 
raglio?'' 

And  as  though  in  challenge,  she  raised  a 
fan  and  unfurled  it  with  a  sudden  click. 
Xevius  shook  his  head. 

"  It  is  not  nice  of  you  to  speak  that  way. 
It's  not  like  you  either.  You  know  that  I 
want  no  one  but  yourself."  As  he  spoke  he 
bent  toward  her,  but  before  he  could  touch 
her,  3Irs.  Xevius  moved,  and  shoving  him 
gently  enough  aside,  sat  upright,  smiling 
still. 

"  Listen  to  me,  Carol,  how  long  have  we 
been  married?  Xearly  seven  years.  Xow, 
tell  me,  don't  you  think  that  in  seven  years  a 

6 


66  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

woman  may  get  just  a  little  tired  of  that  sort 
of  thing."  In  her  great  blue  eyes  interroga- 
tions floated,  and  in  the  corners  of  her  mouth 
was  a  candor  which  would  have  delighted 
Greuze.  "For  I  am.  And  if  you  are  not," 
she  added  with  a  gesture  so  wide  that  it  took 
in  all  New  York,  "  there  are  so  many  other 
women  who  would  like  nothing  better." 

Nevius  was  on  his  feet.  Into  his  face  had 
come  a  look  which  his  wife  had  seen  before, 
and  at  which,  mentally,  she  retreated.  But  be- 
fore he  could  speak,  she  was  at  his  side,  her 
arms  about  his  neck,  her  lips  on  his, 

"  Dear,"  she  murmured.  "  Couldn't  you  see 
that  I  was  jesting.  Don't  you  know  it,  Carol? 
Don't  you  know  that  if  I  thought  you  could 
look  at  another  woman  it  would  break  my 
heart?" 

With  both  hands  on  his  shoulders  she  held 
him  a  little  from  her,  and  with  a  pathos  that 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  67 

seemed  charged  with  love  and  grief  eternal, 
gazed  into  his  face. 
"Tell  me?" 

"I  suppose  so,''  he  answered,  though  with  a 
thoroughly  masculine  sigh.  "  But  then,  what- 
ever I  may  do  or  leave  undone,  you  come  al- 
ways first." 

Mrs.  Nevius'  eyes  lighted  visibly.  She  led 
him  back  to  where  they  had  sat  and  for  a  while 
very  sweetly  discussed  with  him  matters  of 
common  interest.  At  last  she  stood  up  again, 
declaring  that  it  was  late. 

"I  am  going,"  she  announced.  "Are  you 
coming  presently  ?  " 

Nevius  led  her  to  the  door  and  drew  the 
porti5re  that  she  might  pass. 

"  And  Carol,  when  you  come  don't  forget 
the  gas." 

The  portifere  fell  again.  Nevius  returned  to 
the  Post    There  was  an  editorial  which  he 


68  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

read  anheedingly.  From  a  cablegram  lie 
learned  of  an  epidemic  in  the  Orient.  From 
another  that  an  English  duke  had  died  without 
aa  heir.  A  paragraph  in  the  financial  column 
interested  him.  There  was  a  statement  which 
concerned  his  own  interests.  He  got  out  a 
note  book  and  studied  some  figures;  an  idea  in 
connection  with  them  occurred  to  him,  and  at 
the  desk  he  jotted  down  some  memoranda 
which  he  re-copied  and  tearing  up  the  draft 
put  the  copy  in  his  pocket.  He  looked  at  the 
clock,  the  half  hour  which  he  had  given  him- 
self had  gone  and  he  went  upstairs,  the  gas 
forgot. 

The  following  afternoon,  on  returning  to  the 
house,  he  went  directly  to  his  own  room.  At 
the  office  he  had  found  that  the  memoranda 
were  not  in  his  pocket.  In  ordinary  circum- 
stances he  would  have  recalled  the  substance  of 
any  such  paper  unaided,  but  in  this  instance 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  69 

subsequent  episodes  had  driyen  the  purport 
from  his  mind.  Xot  in  his  bed-room,  however, 
nor  in  his  dressing-room,  was  the  paper  to  be 
found.  He  questioned  the  housemaid;  she  had 
no  information  to  impart.  TMiere  is  the  house- 
maid tliat  ever  had?  After  all,  he  reflected,  it 
was  not  a  matter  of  life  or  death,  and  if  it  were 
lost,  was  it  not  as  Hilda  had  often  said,  because 
he  was  fiendish  in  his  carelessness?  And  he 
was  about  to  give  the  matter  up  when  he  re- 
membered that  he  had  first  made  a  draft  which 
he  had  torn  and  thrown  aside.  There  was  a 
chance  that  the  housemaid  had  left  the  scrap- 
basket  undisturbed  and,  presently,  after  getting 
into  evenino:  dress,  he  went  to  the  drawing:- 
room  below. 

The  lights  were  lit,  on  the  table  was  the  Posi; 
there,  against  the  wall,  was  the  escritoire  of 
lacquer  work  and  brass  on  which  he  had  writ- 
ten, and  beside  it  a  basket  of  beribboned  yelyet 


70  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

One  glance  was  sufficient,  the  contents  had  not 
been  touched,  and,  emptying  them,  he  began  to 
arrange  them  on  the  desk.  Yes,  they  were  all 
there.  In  a  moment  he  had  them  not  only  in 
proper  position,  but  with  three  pieces  of  paper 
to  spare.  These  he  would  have  brushed  away, 
but  something  on  one  of  them  caught  his  eye 
— Dearest  J — ,  written  in  his  wife's  hand. 
But  what  preceded  the  adjective,  or  what  had 
followed  the  J,  there  was  nothing  to  tell.  The 
second  scrap  was  larger,  and  on  it  was  written 
he  has  not  go — ;  on  the  third  were  two  words 
and  a  fraction  that  must  have  come  from  the 
middle  of  a  sentence — canH  see  y — -. 

Nevius  stared  at  these  little  papers  and,  as 
he  stared,  all  interest  in  his  own  memoranda 
evaporated. 

He  looked  again. in  the  basket.  It  was  quite 
empty.  Whether  the  other  bits  of  that  letter 
had  fallen,  not  in  the  basket,  but  on  the  floor, 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  71 

and  had  tlien  been  swept  away,  lie  did  not  try 
to  determine.  Enough  remained.  The  J,  of 
course,  was  Ablaut — Jimmy,  as  he  was  famil- 
iarly called.  As  fol*  the  rest,  a  child  could 
have  supplied  the  missing  words — He  has  not 
gone  to  Chicago;  I  canH  see  you  io-nighi. 

And  this  was  Hilda!  For  a  while  he  sat, 
staring  at  the  scraps,  conscious  only  that  he 
was  suffering,  endeavoring  even  to  delude  him- 
self into  a  belief  that  some  explanation  might 
set  this  horrible  thing  aright.  But  little  by 
little,  as  the  impossible  merged  into  the  actual, 
the  understanding  came  to  him  that  the  worst 
that  could  be  done  had  been  done,  and  he  ceased 
to  suffer.    It  was  time  to  act. 

Prom  the  stair  came  a  rustle  of  silk,  the 
sound  of  a  footfall  that  he  knew.  As  yet  he 
had  no  plan.  But  as  he  became  aware  that 
Mrs.  Montr  ion's  sister  was  entering  the  room 
he  stood  up.   His  lips  may  have  been  a  trifle 


72  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

compressed,  but  otherwise  he  had  his  every- 
day 'iir;  he  looked  well  groomed,  sedate,  anx- 
ious, if  at  all,  merely  that  dinner  should  not  be 
too  long  delayed. 

Mrs.  Nevius  passed  through  the  curtains,  the 
light  shuttling  her  hair,  illuminating  the  rose 
of  her  mouth.  In  her  blue  eyes  were  evoca- 
tions of  summer,  and  beneath  them,  on  her 
cheeks,  on  the  lobes  of  her  ears,  health  had 
placed  its  token  in  pink.  She  was  adorably 
dressed,  adorably  constructed,  and  dressed  and 
constructed  to  be  adored.  In  one  hand  was  a 
fan,  in  the  other  a  fold  of  her  gown.  At  sight 
of  her  husband  she  smiled. 

Nevius  stayed  her  with  a  question. 

"  What  was  it  that  Frances  had  to  say  that 
was  so  important  last  night  ?  " 

With  that  motion  which  a  swan  has,  Mrs. 
Nevius  turned  her  head  and  for  a  moment 
seemed  lost  in  the  query.  But  at  once  she 
must  have  recollected. 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  73 

"  Xothing.  The  address  of  a  milliner.  How 
are  tilings  in  the  Street  ?  " 

"And  you  gave  her  the  address,  did  you?'' 

"  Of  course,  I  did.  Why  ?  But  what  do  you 
mean  by  asking  all  these  questions?  " 

"  And  you  found  it  necessary  to  add  that  1 
had  not  gone  to  Chicago,  and  that  you  couldn't 
see  her,  didn't  you?  " 

Mrs.  Xevius''  big  blue  eyes  seemeu  to  grow 
bigger  and  bluer,  but  to  her  face  came  a  flush 
wdth  which  health  had  nothing  to  do. 

"  You  found  it  necessary  to  add  that,  didn't 
you?" 

The  fan  she  held,  she  opened  and  closed. 
"  I  am  sure,'"'  she  said  at  last,  "  I  don't  under- 
stand—  " 
"Look." 

At  the  invitation,  at  the  gesture  which  accom- 
panied it,  she  crossed  the  room,  peered  down  at 
the  scraps,  at  the  basket  from  which  they  had 


74  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

come,  at  the  rug  and  floor.  When  she  raised 
her  head  she  turned  on  her  husband  a  look  of 
absolute  scorn  and,  straightening  herself,  con- 
fronted him. 

"  You,  you,  Carol  Nevius,  condescend  to 
Eumble  through  waste  papers !  A  scullery-maid 
might  do  such  a  thing,  a  gentleman — never." 

"  Ah  ?  Perhaps.  But  it  was  not  for  sociolog- 
ical information  that  I  asked  you  to  look  at 
these  things.  It  is  because  they  are  addressed 
to  Ablaut,  who,  I  see,  is  your  lover." 

Mrs.  Nevius  stepped  back.  In  her  face  had 
come  an  expression  which  a  princess  might 
assume  to  a  lackey  who  had  dared  to  question  * 
her.  Then  at  once,  as  in  a  storm,  a  sky  of 
buttercups  and  forget-me-nots  will  suddenly 
appear,  the  indignation  vanished  and  she 
laughed  outright. 

"  Why,  you  great  goose,  that  was  written 
to  your  Jenny." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  75 

And  as  Nevius  contented  himself  with  star- 
ing at  her.  "  But  how,"  she  cried,  "  liow  is  it 
possible  for  any  one  to  be  such  an  idiot  as  you 
^re! " 

"  I  don't  see—" 

"  Then  you  shall.  On  our  way  to  town  Mrs. 
Manhattan  offered  me  a  box  for  next  Friday. 
I  thought  I  could  get  you  to  take  both  J enny 
and  myself.  Last  night  before  you  came  in  I 
sat  down  to  write  to  her.  I  told  her  of  the 
offer,  and  referring  to  you  I  said,  "If  he  has 
not  got  anything  on  hand  I  can't  see  yet  bi?*, 
that  we  may  persuade  him."  Then  I  heard 
you  at  the  door,  and  determined  I  would  ask 
you  first.  But  did  you  give  me  time?  Did 
you?  "Was  ever  a  woman  mauled  as  I  was? 
Aren't  you  ashamed  of  yourself?  No,  but 
aren't  you?" 

"  Will  you  forgive  me?" 

He  was  very  penitent,  very  meek,  very  happy, 


76  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

and  as  his  wife  pretended  to  look  as  though 
she  were  not  quite  sure  whether  forgiveness 
could  be  granted  to  such  a  sinner,  he  caught 
her  in  his  arms. 

*'  Oh  Carol!"  muttered  that  aggrieved  little 
woman,  freeing  herself  as  best  she  might.  "  How 
can  you  be  so  dreadful!  Some  one's  there." 

Between  the  curtains  Rebecca  stood  in  silent 
announcement  of  dinner. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


77 


YI. 

iToB  several  clays  Xeviiis  saw  little  of  his 
wife.  At  no  time  had  she  been  visible  when 
he  left  the  hoiibe,  and  now  when  he  returned 
there  seemed  to  be  always  some  one  at  dinner. 
The  cloth  removed,  he  sought  the  library,  a 
room  on  the  second  floor  which  separated  his 
apartment  from  hers.  By  day  it  was  gloomy, 
for  light  reached  it  from  above  but  at  nighL 
it  was  pleasant  and  very  still.  Lined  on 
three  sides  with  books,  it  was  furnished  with  a 
wide  table,  easy  chairs,  a  hanging  lamp,  and  a 
sofa  large  as  a  bed.  Here  Nevius  passed  his 
evenings.  Time  was  valuable  to  him  just  then; 
he  had  more  documents -to  examine  than  he 
could  handle  at  his  office,  and  many  a  letter  to 
read  and  write.    Later,  the  work  at  an  end,  he 


78  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

would  go  in  search  of  his  wife,  but  in  those 
days  she  must  have  been  over-fatigued;  her 
door  was  locked. 

This  regimen  made  him  morose.  That  the 
effect  was  noticed  is  presumable.  One  evening 
he  was  gratified  with  the  intelligence  that  he 
was  to  dine  alone  with  Hilda,  and  incidentally 
that  there  was  a  surprise  in  store.  What  was 
it?  Ah,  voila!  If  she  told,  where  would  the 
surprise  be? 

In  his  delight  at  recovered  companionship 
Nevius  promptly  forgot  all  about  that  surprise; 
during  the  service  of  the  courses  he  talked 
of  his  plans  and  projects  as  he  had  not  had  the 
chance  to  talk  for  ages  before,  and  when  the 
meal  was  done  and  they  had  gone  to  the  other 
room  there  was  a  caress  in  his  manner  which 
Mrs.  Nevius  understood. 

"  Now,  Carol,"  she  admonished,  as  he  took 
a  seat  at  her  side.  "  Do  behave,  it's  immoral, 
there's  no  other  word  for  it." 


mada:m  sapphira.  79 

"  Immoral! " 

"  If  it  is  not  immoral  then,  it's  worse.  It  is 
bourgeois." 

From  tlie  past  there  floated  to  him  memories 
of  the  old  pre-nuptial  days,  when  there  had 
been  no  question  of  ethics,  no  question  of  cus- 
toms, nothing  in  fact  save  a  frank  abandonment 
to  love  and  life.  But  to  those  days  he  was  in- 
capable even  of  an  allusion. 

"It  is  not  nice  of  you  to  talk  like  that,''  he 
answered.   "  Tou  accused  me  some  time  ago  of 

picking  up  Jones'  cigarette  stumps;  a  speech 

c 

such  as  yours  smacks  of  Mrs.  Anderson  a  mile 
away.    I  have  begged  you  so  to  drop  her. 

"Oho!  I'm  not  nice,  eh'?''  And  Mrs.  Carol 
nodded  and  smiled  seductively.  "  Wait  till  you 
see.  Now  tell  me,  how  have  you  been  passing 
your  evenings?" 

"Yery  badly." 

"But  how,  I  mean.  What  have  you  been 
doing?" 


80  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

"  Writing  letters." 

"And  how  long  has  it  taken  you?" 

"  Two  or  three  hours." 

"  Precisely.  Now  if  by  any  combination  of 
circumstances  I  were  able  to  shorten  those  two 
or  three  hours  ifrto  one,  and  mind  I  only  say 
If,  but  if  I  were,  would  I  be  nice  or  would  I 
not?" 

To  these  propositions  Nevius  assented. 
"  Yery  good,  will  you  come  with  me  for  a 
moment. " 

Mrs.  Nevius  led  him  to  the  floor  above  and 
threw  open  the  library  door.  Seated  at  the 
table  was  a  young  woman  of  that  type  of  blonde 
beauty  which  only  a  sight  of  creates  in  the 
average  man  a  desire  to  jump  straight  down 
the  possessor's  throat.  As  the  door  opened 
she  rose  from  her  seat,  and  with  a  gesture, 
perhaps  of  embarrassment,  her  hand  went  to 
the  side  of  her  head  and  busied  itself  with  a 
curl. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  81 

Mrs.  Nevius  looked  at  the  girl,  and  iu  a  lit- 
tle voice,  which  was  used  only  on  particular 
occasions,  afPably,  from  the  tips  or  the  lips,  she 
murmured : 

"  This  is  Mr.  Nevius,  Miss  Vtihrer."  Then 
with  a  glance  that  stripped  Miss  Vtihrer  from 
neck  to  heel,  she  turned  to  her  husband. 

Miss  Ytihrer  is  a  stenographer.  Oh,  quite 
an  expert,  I  believe.  Miss  Vtihrer  thinks  she 
can  be  of  great  assistance  to  you.  If  you  have 
any  letters  to-night,  why  not  let  Miss  Vtihrer 
show  you  her  abilities  ?  " 

Whether  or  not  this  projection  of  peaches 
and  cream  into  the  privacy  of  the  library 
caused  Nevius  pleasure  or  displeasure,  not  even 
a  lady  who  was  eying  him  could  decide. 

"Certainly,"  he  answered,  but  he  spoke  in 
the  matter-of-fact  way  which  he  brought  into 
all  business  transactions.  "  Certainly,  I  make 
no  doubt  that  Miss  Vtihrer  is  competent,  and 


82  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

I  shall  be  glad  of  her  assistance.  Let  me  see. 
Yes,  I  have  several  letters.    Perhaps — " 

"  I  will  leave  you  then." 

With  a  sweet  little  bow  to  the  young  woman, 
Mrs.  Nevius  backed  from  the  room  and  closed 
the  door. 

"  Perhaps  you  will  sit  down,  Miss  Ytihrer. 
Yes,  you  might  sit  there,  please.  You  have 
every  thing  you  require  ?  " 

Miss  Vtihrer,  a  pad  in  her  hand,  a  row  of 
sharpened  pencils  before  her,  resumed  her  seat. 
Nevius  dropped  on  the  sofa,  and  after  a  glance 
at  some  papers,  which  he  had  taken  from  his 
pocket,  began: 

*'  Waters  and  Rivers,  Wabash  Avenue,  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  Dear  Sirs : — In  reply  to  yours  of 
the  18th  I  have  to  inform  you  that —  " 

And  so  on  and  so  forth.  For  an  hour  the 
dictation  continued  uninterrupted,  save  by 
pauses  of  thought,  and  the  tick  of  the  clock 


MABAM  SAPPHIBA.  83 

on  the  mantel.  Once  Nevius  beard  the  door 
bell  ring,  and  once  he  found  himself  scruti- 
nizing this  blonde  young  creature,  who  rarely 
turned  her  eyes  to  him.  The  letters  done,  he 
stood  up. 

"  Thank  you,  Miss  Ytihrer,  that  will  do.  If 
you  will  copy  out  what  you  have,  I  can  sign 
later  on." 

He  left  the  room  and  went  down  the  stairs. 
On  the  way  he  caught  the  sound  of  a  ^^oice, 
which,  musical  as  the  squawk  of  a  bicycle  he 
recognized  at  once,  and  on  reaching  the  hall, 
picked  up  his  hat  and  coat.  But  his  step  had 
been  heard,  his  movements  perhaps  divined, 
there  was  a  jostle  of  portiere  rings,  and  before 
he  had  got  his  arms  well  into  the  coat,  Mrs. 
Carol  was  at  his  side. 

"You  are  not  going  out,  are  you?  Do  come 
in.    It's  only  Ablaut,  you  don't  mind  him." 

"  Not  in  the  least,  but  I  do  mind  his  carry- 


84  MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 

ing  off  my  best  umbrella  every  time  it  rains, 
and  I  wish  you  would  tell  him  so  too." 

"Oh,  pooh!  "Who's  afraid  of  you?  Tell  me," 
and  Mrs.  Carol  came  closer  to  her  husband. 
"What  do  you  think  of  her ?  " 

"MissVuhrer?  She  is  very  pretty." 

"Is  she  really!" 

The  air  of  surprise  which  Mrs.  Nevius 
assumed  could  not  have  been  dissimilar  to  that 
which  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  exhibited, 
when  she  learned  that  other  women  had  five 
fingers  like  herself. 

"  Is  she  really !  I  didn't  notice.  How  queer 
men  are!   But  do  come  in." 

"No,  not  just  now.  I  have  an  odd  feeling 
in  my  head,  a  walk  will  do  me  good." 

And  bending  toward  his  wife  he  received 
from  that  lady  a  rapid  and  noiseless  peck. 

When  Ne^'ius  returned  Miss  Vuhrer  was 
about  to  leave.    The  drawing-room  was  dark 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  85 

and  untenanted.  He  opened  the  door  for  the 
girl,  wished  her  ^ood  night,  and  went  in  search 
of  his  wife.  But  Mrs.  Nevius  must  have  al- 
ready retired.  There  was  no  answer  to  his 
knock* 


86 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


VIT. 

Meanwhile  nothing  further  had  been  said 
about  Mrs.  Manhattan's  box.  Mrs.  Carol  may 
have  abandoned  the  project,  and  as  for  Nevius, 
the  matter  had  passed  from  his  mind.  He  had 
other  things  to  think  of.  One  evening  he  re- 
turned to  the  house  later  than  usual;  he  was 
tired  and  looked  cross.  On  entering  the  draw- 
ing room  he  found  his  wife  already  there.  At 
the  moment  he  said  nothing,  contenting  him- 
self with  staring  at  her.  Her  gown  was  an  art- 
ful combination  of  silk  and  tulle,  colorless  yet 
silvery,  and  in  it,  with  a  large  fan  and  a  low 
bodice,  very  delightful  she  was  to  benold.  About 
her  were  the  incendiary  and  not  altogether  de- 
finable emanations  which  the  well  sent-out  of 
her  sex  not  infrequently  exhale,  but  of  which 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  87 

she  liad  made  a  study.  There  are  women,  few 
indeed,  but  there  are  women  who  merely  in 
raising  their  arms  define  the  reason  of  love, 
and  Mrs.  Nevius  was  one  of  them.  The  costume, 
however,  and  its  attendant  charms  were  not, 
Nevius  understood,  intended  solely  for  his  own 
delectation.  A  festival  of  some  kind  was  im-  ] 
minent. 

"Aren't  you  going  to  dress?" 

As  Mrs.  Neviufe  spoke,  the  tips  of  her  lips 
just  moving,  her  chin  a  trifle  advanced,  her 
eyebrows  arched,  the  blue  splendors  of  her 
eyes  dilating,  she  might  havo  sat  for  Spring 
pouting  at  Winter. 

With  the  sans-g^ne  of  a  married  man,  Nevius 
dropped  in  a  chair. 

"Anyone  would  think  I  had  shot  you,"  she 
added,  after  a  pause  which  she  made  populous 
with  interrogations. 

Nevius  straightened  himself. 


88  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

**  How  long  will  it  take  you  to  pack  ?  " 

"Two  months." 

"  Hilda!  do  be  serious." 

"  Two  months  I  tell  you.  Not  a  minute  less. 
But  what  has  happened?  I  give  you  my  word 
you  look  as  though  you  had  been  studying  the 
extradition  treaty.    What's  gone  wrong?" 

*'I  go  to  Paris  to-morrow  and  I  want  you  to 
go  too." 

To  this  Mrs.  Nevius  made  no  reply  unless 
the  click  of  a  fan  may  be  so  accounted. 

"  The  Board  of  the  Interocean  Canal  met  to- 
day and  they  want  me  to  go.  In  fact  I  have 
to.  The  stockholders,  in  spite  of  De  Lesseps, 
are  all  there,  and  the  Board  needs  more  money. 
How  much  God  only  knows,  and  when  I  say 
God  only  I  exaggerate — " 

"Don't  be  coarse,"  Mrs.  Carol  interjected, 
but  she  spoke  mechanically,  her  thoughts  afar. 

"I  have  the  ticket,  a  cabine  de  luxe;  it  i.s 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  89 

big  enough  for  three.  Bebecca  could  get  such 
things  as  you  need  in  shape  in  no  time.  And 
it  would  be  so  sweet,"  he  added. 

This  conclusion  was  allowed  to  pass  un- 
noticed. With  a  gesture  which  was  habitual 
to  Mrs.  Carol  when  called  upon  to  think  quickly, 
she  raised  a  hand  to  her  forehead.  On  one 
finger  a  great  jewel  glistened,  but  not  more  so 
than  the  finger-tip.  When  she  lowered  it  her 
face  was  almost  apathetic. 

*'It  would  be  so  sweet  of  you,  Hilda." 

Mrs.  Nevius  dropped  her  fan,  patted  a  fold 
of  the  skirt,  and,  as  though  reflecting  still, 
crossed  to  where  he  sat. 

He  was  on  his  feet  at  once. 

"I  knew  you  would!"  he  cried,  and  caught 
her  to  him. 

"How  long  are  you  to  be  gone?" 

"Oh,"  he  answered  eagerly,  "the  time  to 
get  there  and  turn  around," 


90  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

Mrs.  Carol  freed  herself. 

*'  Dinner  has  been  announced.    Let  us  go  in." 

*' Yes,  and  let's  have  some  champagne.  Do 
you  remember  the  St.  Marceau  we  used  to  get  ? 
Do  you  remember  the  little  restaurant  we  went 
to  one  night  on  the  other  side  of  the  Seine  ? 
Do  you  remember — " 

The  memories  of  other  days  returned,  too 
abundant,  too  fragrant,  too  sacred  even,  for 
enumeration  while  the  servant  was  there.  But 
during  the  progress  of  the  meal  there  was 
plenty  of  animation  in  that  room,  many  a  jest 
and  many  a  laugh.  The  jests,  however,  came 
from  him.  Mrs.  Carol  smiled  and  nodded,  and 
nodded  and  smiled,  but  otherwise  her  contri- 
butions to  the  gaiety  were  slight.  At  last  they 
moved  again  to  the  adjoining  room.  There, 
when  they  had  got  seated,  she  took  his  hand 
in  hers. 

"  Carol,  I  can't  go." 


MADAM   SAPPHIRA.  91 

Surprise,  annoyance  too,  lifted  liim  from  the 
seat. 

"Now  wait."  ^Itli  but  a  gesture  she  lia^* 
him  back  again.  "  If  you  insist  I  will  obey 
you,  but — " 

"  Obey  me,  why — " 

"But  it  will  be  very  selfish  of  3^ou.  I  am 
not  a  bagman's  wife,  Carol.  I  can't  leave  New 
York  at  a  moment's  notice.  In  spite  of  your 
attitude  I  have  some  small  position  in  society. 
I  have  engagements  to  keep,  duties  to  which  I 
must  attend.  I  have  my  friends,  my  family. 
What  would  they  all  say?  But  supposing  I 
were  to  go.  Who  would  look  after  the  house? 
When  I  got  back  it  would  be  in  rack  and  ruin. 
You're  to  be  gone  but  a  few  weeks.  Surely 
after  nearly  seven  years  you  can  do  without 
me  for  that  space  of  time.  x4.nd  I  would  only 
be  in  your  way.  But  look  at  it  from  a  differ- 
ent point.    Supposing,  as  many  a  woman  has, 


92  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

I  not  only  refused  to  go,  but  refused  to  let  you. 
Whereas  I  am  going  to  do  everything  to  get 
you  off  comfortably,  and  not  only  that,  but  I 
shall  be  on  the  dock  to  welcome  you  home. 
Only  on  one  condition  though — " 

And  as  he  manifested  no  earthly  interest  in 
the  condition,  as  he  looked  sulky  and  very 
cross,  she  twisted  about  in  such  a  manner  that 
he  was  obliged  to  notice  her,  and  repeated  ten- 
tatively and  seductively: 

"  Only  on  one  condition  though — " 
"Well,  what  condition  then?"  he  finally 
snarled. 

,  But  Mrs.  Carol  was  very  patient  that  even- 
ing; very  tender.  She  stroked  him  much  as 
she  might  a  big  baby. 

"  That  you  promise,  no,  but  faithfully  and 
honestly  promise  to  be  back  in  six  weeks." 

By  way  of  answer  Nevius  bit  his  lip. 

"  And  see,"  she  continued,  "  I  was  going  to 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  98 

Mrs.  Usselex'  to-niglit.  I  was  going  to  make 
you  take  me  too.  Yes,  T^'lietlier  you  liked  it  or 
not.  But  Mrs.  Usselex  have  to  do  with- 
out me.  Why,  Carol,  I  wouldnH  leave  you  to- 
night, no  not  to  sup  with  the  queen." 
She  touched  a  bell. 

"  Kebecca,"  she  ordered  when  the  servant 
appeared.  "  There  was  a  cab  to  be  here  at 
eleven.  Countermand  it,  and  tell  Miss  Ytihrer 
not  to  wait." 

These  commands  distributed  she  turned 
again  to  her  husband. 

A  glance  was  enough  to  tell  her  that  his  an- 
noyance had  gone,  that  presently  he  would 
accept  the  situation,  its  logic  as  well,  and 
with  some  inward  approbation  oi  her  own 
prowess  she  stood  manfully  to  the  guns. 

"  You  can  do  so  many  little  things  for  me, 
too,  Carol.  I  want  corsets  of  that  woman  in  the 
Eue   de  la  Paix.    I  want  gloves  from  the 


94  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

Louvre  and  lingerie  from  Doucet.  If  you  tell 
the  corset  woman  I  want  six  more  like  the  last 
she  will  understand.  And  you  must  order 
them  as  soon  as  you  get  there.  Corsets  take 
forever.  And  the  gloves — but  I  had  best  make 
a  list.  Tou  won't  lose  it,  will  you  ?  Oh,  if  it 
were  April  now  how  I  would  jump  at  the 
chance.  In  the  winter  Paris  gives  me  the  hor- 
rors. You  must  be  good,  though;  no  flirta- 
tions, rien  des  horizontales.    Do  you  hear?'' 

Yes,  he  had  heard;  he  gave  the  required 
promise,  but  absently,  his  eyes  on  the  rug. 

"And  you  must  take  good  care  of  your- 
self, too.  You  mustn't  tire  yourself  out,  and 
catch  one  of  those  horrid  Paris  fevers.  If  you 
did,  though,"  she  added  after  a  moment,  "  how 
I  would  fly  to  you ! " 

The  words  were  nothing.  But  in  the  intona- 
tion, in  the  expression  of  anxiety  her  face  took 
on,  there  was  a  tenderness,  a  solicitude,  an  affec  • 


MADAM    SAPPHIRA.  95 

tiou  SO  sincere  and  abiding  that  Nevius  felt 
ashamed. 

It  was  selfishness,  he  reflected,  to  wish  her 
to  accompany  him  on  a  disagreeable  trip,  and 
it  was  surly  of  him  now  that  he  saw  the  selfish- 
ness of  the  wish  to  sit  staring  at  the  intricacies 
of  the  rug.  But  still,  though  ke  said  nothing, 
his  face  spoke  for  him  and  presently  when 
he  put  his  arm  about  her  Mrs.  Nevius  felt  that 
the  battle  was  won. 


96 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


VIIL 

Save  in  New  York,  and  in  the  antipodes,  the 
early  winter  is  rarely  pleasant.  But  when 
Nevius  reached  Paris  the  sky  was  white  as  tin 
and  in  the  air  that  sparkle  which  Fifth  avenue 
knows  in  March. 

He  descended,  to  use  an  idiom  of  the  land, 
at  a  small  hotel  in  the  Eue  Castiglione,  where 
he  was  greeted  as  only  those  are  who  are  mag- 
nificent with  small  coin. 

"Seigneur!  I  who  dreamed  of  Monsieur  the 
night  of  the  day  before  yesterday.  No,  it  does 
good  to  the  eyes  to  again  see  Monsieur.  And 
Madame?  She  carries  herself  always  well? 
Ah,  how  I  am  content!  God  of  gods,  to  say 
that  I  of  it  have  dreamed!" 

It  was  the  janitress,  obese  and  fulsome,  wel- 
coming him  in  the  excesses  of  her  tongue. 


MADAM   SAPPHIRA.  97 

"  And  Baptiste  ?  It  is  there  he  is.  The  truuks 
of  Monsieur  to  the  number  12,  and  let  it  not 
loiter.  And  hey !"  she  cried  with  much  haughti- 
ness to  an  interloper  who  had  opened  the  cab- 
door  and  was  now  officious  in  the  transfer  of 
the  luggage,  "  And  hey,  species  of  calf's  head 
marined  in  mud,  go,  I  pray  you,  a  little  that 
way  and  see  if  I  there  am." 

Number  12,  in  which  Nevius  presently  found 
himself,  w^as  a  yellow  suite,  where  he  had 
brought  his  wife  on  each  of  their  visits  to 
Paris.  Though  two  years  had  passed  since  the 
last  trip,  apparently  nothing  had  happened  to 
it,  it  was  as  ornate  and  trivial  as  before.  He 
had  but  to  close  his  eyes  and  fancy  her  calling 
to  him,  as  she  was  wont  to  do  from  the  room 
beyond,  and,  for  a  while,  in  an  absurd,  canary- 
covered  armchair  he  sat  reminiscent. 

The  journey  over  had  been  uneventful,  as 
such  journeys  ever  are.    There  was  the  usual 

7 


98  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

number  of  merry  commercial  gentlemen  in  the 
smoking-room,  and  on  deck,  blanketed  in  sedan- 
chairs,  the  usual  quota  of  unalluring  dames. 
Apart  from  a  man  whom  he  remembered  but 
whose  name  he  could  not  recall,  he  had  barely 
exchanged  a  word  with  anyone.  But  then,  he 
had  not  been  well.  On  the  second  day  out  the 
curious  sensation  of  a  lancinating  burn  had 
come  and  gone,  leaving  him  perplexed  as  to  the 
cause,  yet  mindful  of  an  anterior,  though  less 
acute  attack.  On  the  morrow  there  was  nothing, 
a  heavy  feeling  merely,  which  he  attributed  to 
the  effects  of  the  sea,  and  which  remained  with 
him  until  the  voyage  was  done. 

And  now,  as  he  sat  in  the  little  sitting-room, 
he  felt  he  was  ill,  yet  after  the  fashion  of  men 
to  whom  illness  exists  only  through  hearsay, 
he  refused  to  admit  it.  He  would  dine,  he  told 
himself,  and  look  in  at  the  Comedie.  For  though 
be  objected  to  theatres  in  New  York,  there 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  99 

was  no  weariness  to  him  in  that  home  of  perfect 
acting  and  perfect  French. 

Contrary  to  precedent,  the  prescription  did 
him  good.  On  the  morrow  he  awoke,  if  not 
alert,  at  least  refreshed,  and  after  a  breakfast 
of  coffee  and  the  Figaro — in  which  he  learned 
that  Mr.  Cleveland  had  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  tatooed  on  his  back — he  went  to 
the  corset  woman,  across  the  way  to  Doucet, 
afterward  in  search  of  gloves  to  the  Louvre, 
and  it  was  only  these  matters  attended  to,  that 
he  bethought  him  of  the  duties  which  had 
brought  him  to  France. 

Business  in  that  country  is  not  transacted 
with  the  same  dash  which  has  made  the  suc- 
cess of  our  own.  The  agents  whom  Nevius 
visited  were  not  to  be  hurried.  There  was  a 
preliminary  plenitude  of  form  to  be  observed, 
punctuated,  it  is  true,  with  abundant  promises. 
But  the  Canal  Company,  albeit  in  its  quality 


J  00  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

of  corporation,  without  a  soul,  had,  neverthe- 
less, a  stomach,  and  Nevius  was  fully  aware 
that  that  stomach  was  not  to  be  fed  and 
be  filled  on  the  faith  of  to-morrow's  baked 
meats.  Yet  beautifully  clear  was  it  made  to 
him  that  it  was  precisely  on  food  of  that  kind 
that  the  company  would  have  to  subsist  until  a 
general  meeting  could  be  called  and  terms  ar- 
ranged. Meanwhile,  the  agents  would  be  only 
too  glad  to  have  him  breakfast  with  them,  dine 
with  them  and  sup,  as  well. 

Under  the  diligent  supervision  of  friends 
encountered  and  recovered,  a  week  was  helped 
away  without  any  abuse  of  these  offers.  The 
corset  woman,  he  found,  was  not  as  dilatory  as 
she  had  been  represented ;  already  a  package 
of  her  wares  had  come,  another  from  Doucet, 
too.  As  for  the  gloves,  long  since  they  had 
been  in  his  keeping.  The  machinery  iu  the 
agent's  office  was  at  last  at  work,  and  in  a  fort- 


^ADAM  SAPPHIRA.  101 

night,  so  far  as  he  was  then  capable  of  de- 
termining, there  would  be  nothing  to  prevent 
his  return. 

On  the  morning  of  the  ninth  day  after  his 
arrival  there  came  to  him,  with  the  coffee  and 
the  Figaro.^  a  batch  of  letters  postmarked  New 
York.  Among  them  was  one  of  blue  paper, 
stamped  with  the  Nevius  crest,  directed  in  his 
wife's  familiar  hand.  Oh,  he  had  been  await- 
ing it,  calculating  when  it  would  arrive,  de- 
voured by  impatience,  hoping  even  that  tide 
and  weather  favoring,  it  might  reach  him  the 
day  before.  But  now  it  had  come,  and  letting 
the  other  letters  lay  where  they  w^ere,  he  opened 
it,  his  eyes  glad  and  eager. 
"  Dear  Carol: 

"  I  have  bad  news  for  you,  or,  at  least  what 
seems  bad  to  me.  Your  v>^hole  affair  with  that 
woman  has  come  out  My  father  has  beeji 
told,  and  he  says  that  if  I  do  not  come  to  him 


102  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

at  once  lie  will  disinherit  me.  Precisely  what 
course  he  will  pursue  I  do  not  know;  indeed 
since  I  first  learned  of  your  conduct  I  have 
been  so  dumb  and  crushed  that  the  family  have 
seen  that  I  am  incapable  of  acting  for  myself, 
and  have  taken  the  matter  entirely  out  of  my 
hands.  But,  independent  of  them,  I  know  that 
you  will  agree  with  me,  that  it  is  best  that  we 
should  part.  For  years  we  have  led  different 
lives;  you  never  would  take  me  anywhere;  your 
pleasures  were  your  own,  not  mine.  But  I  will 
not  reproach  you.  I  know  your  nature,  and 
how  you  resent  interference.  Hereafter  there 
will  be  no  one  to  bother  you.  A  bachelor's 
life,  without  ties  or  duties,  is  what  you  prefer. 
As  for  myself,  I  may  tell  you  that  a  more 
wretched,  broken-hearted  woman  does  not  exist. 
In  separating  myself  from  you,  I  say  good-bye 
to  so  much — to  my  wasted  years,  to  my  ruined 
youth,  to  love,  to  happiness  and  to  life.  But 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA.  103 

it  must  be  said,  and  in  such  grief  as  you  would 
pity  could  you  see,  I  say  it.  So  soon  as  I  am 
able  I  leave  this  empty  and  dishonored  house; 
there  are  other  women  that  will  come  to  you  in 
it,  be  truer  to  them  than  you  have  been  to 
me.  I  can  write  no  more,  my  eyes  are  blinded 
with  my  tears. 

"Hilda." 

When  Nevius  finished  this  curious  communi- 
cation he  neither  changed  color  nor  fainted  away. 
But  he  did  rumple  it  a  little  and  then  smoothed 
it  out  and  read  it  again.  It  is  a  trick,  he  told 
himself,  a  forgery,  a  practical  joke.  But  where 
was  the  trickster  capable  of  perpetrating  a  jest 
such  as  that  ?  "She  must  be  mad,"  he  reflected. 
"What  affair  of  mine  has  come  out?  Why  must 
she  go  to  her  father.  Why  is  she  dumb  and 
crushed?  Why — why — Avhy — ?" 

But  ask  questions  of  canary-colored  furni- 
ture in  a  Paris  hotel  and  see  how  communica- 


104  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

tive  it  is.  Yet  to  the  soul  that  is  sinking  Hope 
throws  a  straw.  With  the  idea  that  something 
in  the  other  letters  might  convey  a  clue  to  the 
mystery  he  ran  them  over.  One  was  from  the 
Canal  Company.  He  threw  it  down.  Another 
was  from  his  broker;  he  tossed  it  aside.  A 
third  was  from  Chicago;  he  let  it  lie  unopened. 
But  the  fourth  was  more  promising;  in  one  * 
corner  it  bore  the  neat  imprint  of  the 
Athenaeum  Club  and  it  was  covered  with  the 
oblique  scrawl  with  which  Alphabet  Jones  was 
accustomed  to  distress  his  publishers  and  con- 
fuse his  friends. 

"Dear  Eeprobate: 

"  It  is  the  way  of  this  envious  world  to  hate  an 
adulterer.  The  brute  has  had  such  a  con- 
founded good  time  that  the  rest  of  us  are  jeal- 
ous— an  apothegm  which  you  won't  have  to 
read  twice  to  understand  that  I  have  been  in- 
terviewed by  Mrs.  Carol.  Yesterday  I  was  seufc 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA.  105 

for  and  I  at  once  precipitateei  mvsolf  to 
renew  the  expression  of  my  homage.  Your 
princess  was  looking  remarkably  well,  but  of 
you  and  of  one  who  shall  be  nameless  she  did 
not  speak  as  she  looked,  in  fact,  it  would  be 
hyperbole  to  say  that  she  was  complimentary. 
Of  course  I  reasoned  with  her  as  best  I  could. 
I  told  her  that  accidents  increased  the  best  of 
families;  that  woman  j^roposes  and  a  poor 
deyil  accepts;  that  matrimony  is  payed  with 
improper  attentions.  But  my  arguments  were 
treated  like  cob-webs.  I  was  told  that  you  had 
gone  abroad  to  ayoid  trouble,  and  though  I  in- 
timated that  I  should  do  the  same  thing,  and 
moreoyer  that  disappearances  were  deceptiye,  I 
was  warmly  urged  to  adyise  you  to  remain 
where  you  are.  Xs  a  consequence  I  adyise  you 
to  do  nothing  of  the  sort,  though,  between  our.- 
selyes,  it  is  always  stupid  to  come  back  and  ex- 
plain things  which  need  no  explanation,  and  as 


106  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

for  exoneration  only  sinners  feel  tne  need  of 
that,  perhaps  then  your  best  course  is  to 
study  ihe  maxims  of  that  Hindu  philosopher 
Avhose  name  is  T  Dhont  Kare;  try  not  to  be  a»ny 
more  particular  than  you  have  been  in  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Xlth  commandment;  and,  in 
any  event,  Tace  et  Memento.  Divorces,  as  you 
may  be  aware,  are  quite  modish  this  year.  They 
are  of  all  shades  of  green,  cut  low  and  behold, 
with  or  without  frills  as  personal  taste  dictates, 
and  are  worn  en  train,  sans  pudeur  et  avec  re- 
proche. 

"  N.  B. — Your  wife  would  rather  be  dead  than 
out  of  the  fashion. 

"  With  this  for  carte  da  pays,  choose  your 
own  route.  But  which  ever  way  you  go,  don't 
talk  back,  it  is  middle-class  to  begin  with,  and 
besides  an  insult  ignored  insults  the  insulter 
more  than  the  insulted. 

"  Yours  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  fellowship, 
"A.  B.  Fenwick  Chisholm-Jones." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


107 


In  a  crescendo  of  bewilderment  Nevius 
turned  to  the  furniture  again.  "Am  I  asleep?  " 
he  asked.  "Is  this  real,  or  a  nightmare?  Is  it 
actual  or  am  I  insane  ?  Who  is  it  that  shall  be 
nameless  ?  What  is  this  rubbish  about  divorce  ? 
What  is  this  obesity  of  the  mind  which  Jones 
mistakes  for  wit?  What  does  he  mean  by 
suggesting  that  I  should  remain  where  I  am? 
Remain  where  I  am !  The  steamer  isn't  built 
that  can  carry  me  fast  enough.  One  word 
with  Hilda,  only  one,  and  this  farce  will  end?" 

Yet  would  it?  Presently,  with  a  remorse 
that  was  childish  in  its  poignancy,  one  by  one 
he  recalled  the  numberless  instances  in  which 
he  had  refused  to  take  her  to  this  function  and 
to  that,  the  embargo  he  had  placed  on  certain 
of  her  associates,  the  mortification  which  she 
must  have  felt  because  of  his  attitude  to  her 
family,  his  surliness  to  her  friends,  the  utter 
perversity  with  which  he  had  thwarted  the  one 


108  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

poor  little  wish  she  had  ever  expressed,  the 
natural,  feminine  desire  to  entertain  and  be 
entertained  in  turn. 

Ah,  indeed,  if  it  were  because  of  these  things 
she  was  to  leave  him,  he  had  no  defence,  not 
one.  He  could  only  raise  his  hat  and  speed 
her  on  her  way.  No  doubt  she  would  be  hap- 
pier, oh,  much  happier  without  him. 

But  was  such  a  thing  possible?  Could  it  be 
that  the  one  being  in  all  the  world  whom  he 
loved,  whom  he  had  loved  for  seven  years  with 
a  seven  times  seven  increasing  love,  whom  he 
loved  now  with  a  prodigality  of  affection  of 
which  he  had  been  previously  unaware,  could 
iis  be  possible  that  she  was  to  leave  him  because 
of  this? 

The  accusation  in  regard  to  the  woman  j)er- 
plexed,  he  knew  it  to  be  a  delusion,  one  which 
he  could  rout  with  a  word.  That  which  pres- 
ently affected  him  was  the  suffering  Hilda 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  109 

must  endure  because  of  her  belief  in  it.  In 
similar  circumstances  ^vliat  would  liis  suffer- 
ing-s  be!  AYliv  tlieA-  would  drive  liim  mad. 
But  apart  from  that  the  thing  which  moved  him 
most  was  the  fact  that  she  could  condemn  him 
unheard,  that  she  could  go  to  others  for  her 
knowledge  of  him.  It  was  not  a  thing  he 
could  have  done  to  her.  Of  that  he  was  quite 
sure.  But  on  what,  after  all,  had  the  condem- 
nation been  based?  He  was  not  a  saint,  far 
from  it.  In  spite  of  his  present  perplexity, 
there  had  been  moments  when  his  deportment 
to  others  had  not  been  licit.  But  never,  as  the 
phrase  is  used,  had  there  been  an  affair, 
fancies  merely  which  at  best,  or  at  worst,  had 
not  outlasted  a  week.  "What  was  it  then  that 
had  come  out"?  Why  was  she  dumb  and 
crushed  ? 

And  then,  suddenly  as  intuitions  visit  us  un- 
aided by  anything  more  tangible  than  that  ii]- 


110  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

tangible  operation  which  has  been  christened 
unconscious  cerebration,  a  clew  appeared  and 
vanished. 

"By  the  living  God!  I  believe  it  is  some 
nastiness  of  that  Mrs.  Anderson.    If  it  is — " 

He  had  sprung  to  his  feet ;  his  hand  clenched 
menaced  the  gilding  of  the  cornice,  the  filmy- 
yellow  of  the  curtains,  the  world  that  lay  be- 
yond. 

But  the  sound  of  his  voice  must  have 
startled  him ;  he  crossed  the  room,  ashamed  of 
the  outburst,  and  presently,  aided  by  the  under- 
standing that  if  ever  calm  were  required  of 
him  it  was  then,  he  sat  down  again  and  strove 
to  think. 

This  was  Monday.  There  would  be  no  ship 
from  Havre  till  the  end  of  the  week,  but  on 
Wednesday  there  was  a  choice  of  boats  that 
sailed  from  Southampton  and  Liverpool.  It 
was  now  high  noon.    At  three  the  Club-train 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  Ill 

left  for  Loudon.  By  midnight  he  could  be  there. 
On  the  morrow  he  could  engage  passage.  The 
day  after  he  could  sail.  A  week  later  he 
would  be  in  New  York,  and  one  hour  after  he 
put  foot  on  shore  this  nightmare  would  be  dis- 
sipated and  Hilda  in  his  arms.  Was  he  not 
sure  of  her,  and  how  few  the  words  that  would 
serve  to  make  her  sure  of  him  ? 

Closing  his  eyes  he  saw  her  again,  as  he  had 
seen  her  the  morning  of  his  departure,  her 
dark  hair  falling  about  the  sweetness  of  her 
face,  and  in  a  voice  that  seemed  tremulous 
with  emotion,  imploring  him  to  remember  his 
promise  to  return  to  her  soon. 

Yes  surely,  that  promise  he  would  keep,  and 
with  a  lunge  at  a  tasseled  cord,  presently  he 
had  Baptiste  attending  to  his  traps. 

"Not  the  trouble  to  come  to  take  oneself  off 
so  swift,  is  it  not,  my  sir  ?  But  my  sir  will  re- 
come,  very  sure.    The  America,  it  is  far  how- 


112  MADAM  SIPPHIRA. 

ever.  Beautiful  land,  eiio  says,  and  rich!  Ah, 
how  I  wish  my  sir  me  would  lead  with  him !" 

Baptiste  pottered  away,  mumbling  to  him- 
self. But  Nevius  had  gone.  There  was  a 
trinket  at  the  jeweler's  opposite  which  would 
look  well  on  Hilda's  throat.  Then,  too,  there 
was  a  telegram  to  be  sent  to  the  Canal  Com- 
pany. These  things  accomplished,  he  was  able 
to  eat  an  omelette,  and  get  to  the  remote  Gare 
du  Nord  in  time  to  catch  the  train. 

The  next  morning  he  awoke  bewildered. 
What  had  happened  to  the  Eue  Castiglione? 
Why  was  it  so  hushed?  Where  were  the  bird- 
like  trills  of  the  hawkers?  What  had  been 
done  to  the  roar  and  rumble  of  Paris  ?  And  ^ 
that  sky  of  glittering  tin,  a  pall  had  been 
stretched  across  it. 

The  Bue  Castiglione  no  doubt  was  as  noisy 
and  as  bright  as  ever.  It  was  in  Jermyn 
street  that  he  had  awaked,  in  a  room  which 


MADAM  SAPPHIBA.  113 

overlooked  the  ghostliness  of  mews  that  lay 
dumb  and  hidden  beneath  a  fog  of  leprous 
brown. 

It  was  by  candle  that  he  dressed,  and  when 
at  last  he  was  able  to  set  out  for  the  steamship 
office  his  teeth  chattered  with  the  rawness  of 
the  air.  Hell  is  supposed  to  be  hot,  but  fancy 
it  cold,  and  there  can  not  be  a  pin  to  choose 
between  it  and  London  in  December. 

The  steamship  office  was  in  Cockspur  street, 
the  throw  of  a  stone  beyond,  but  Nevius  lelt 
too  numb  and  depressed  to  get  there  unforti- 
fied. He  went  back  to  the  hotel,  ordered  some 
drink,  and  in  the  gloom  of  the  coffee-room  sat 
a  while,  a  copy  of  the  Times  before  him.  But 
since  when  had  that  serious  sheet  appeared  in 
pink? 

Before  he  could  account  for  such  levity,  the 
paper  disappeared,  the  room  as  well,  and  when, 
long  after,  he  issued  from  a  terrible  struggle 

8 


114  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

with  rushing  waters  lie  Yv'as  lying  on  a  bed;  at 
his  side  was  a  little  man  with  white  y/hiskers. 

Neyius  opened  his  eyes  wider: 

"I  must  have  fainted,  didn't  I?" 

The  little  man  nodded  confidentially,  with 
an  air  of  approval. 

"  And  a  dom  fine  one  it  was  altogether.  Be 
easy  a  bit  now,  you're  not  to  get  up  this  day." 

"But I've  got  to,"  Nevius  answered.  "I've 
got  to  get  my  ticket."  Then  he  lost  sight 
of  the  little  man,  and  when  the  white  whiskers 
again  appeared  it  was  after  another  combat 
with  thunderclaps  and  torrential  streams. 

The  little  man  was  prophetic  as  a  ballad. 
Nevius  did  not  get  up  that  day,  nor  on  the 
morrow,  either,  though  for  a  while  he  was 
permitted  to  look  out  at  the  dinginess  of  the 
empty  mews.  But  he  looked  T>^ith  little  pleas- 
ure; he  wn.R  weak  and  coiifusod,  find  on  hm 
forehead  above  the  left  eyo,  a  hot  iron  Reemed 
to  be  scaring  the  bona 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  115 

''"^hat  is  it?''  lie  asked. 

"  We've  been  kicking  over  the  traces,  liayen't 
v^-e'?''  tlie  little  man  asserted  with  the  same 
confidential  approving  air. 

"Not  a  bit." 

"  And  dom  stupid  it  would  be  if  we 
couldn't." 

"  But  I  haven't.  I  have  been  good  as  gold. 
I  don't  know  what  nend  of  a  microbe  has 
battened  on  me.  I  don't  know  vrhat  can  be  the 
matter  with  m*j  h-ead." 

And  we've  been  angry,  too.  Anger  is  a 
poison.  We  didn't  know  that,  did  we  ?  Strych= 
nine  congests  the  brain,  anger  congests  the 
liver." 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  say  that." 

"  When  we  go  gunning  for  a  lady  in  our 
sleep,  we  know  what  has  happened  when  we 
were  awake,  don't  we?  We've  got  our  system 
upset,  we've  got  something  on  our  mind,  and  m 


116  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

for  that  paiu  in  our  head,  it's  a  taste  of  neural- 
gia that  will  leave  us  with  a  bit  of  quinine." 

Nevius  took  the  quinine,  and  to  the  burn  in 
his  forehead  was  added  a  roar  in  his  ears.  The 
night  was  white;  barely  did  he  close  his  eyes; 
to  the  agony  of  his  temples  was  joined  the 
agony  of  his  thoughts.  He  tried  to  sleep,  but  the 
dual  agony  banished  that  benison,  until  at  last 
he  remembered  the  porter  and  through  his  aid 
succeeded  in  drugging  himself  with  drink. 

On  the  morrow,  the  little  man  changed  the 
medicine ;  he  ordered  exalgine,  and  the  burn  in 
the  forehead  went.  But  not  on  that  day  was 
Nevius  able  to  take  ship,  nor  on  the  morrow, 
either.  A  week  went  by  before  he  could  go. 
Yet,  meanwhile  he  had  cabled  to  Hilda,  telling 
her  of  his  illness,  imploring  her  from  across 
the  sea  to  remain  where  she  was  until  he  could 
reach  her  and  show  her  that  it  was  she  he 
loved  and  none  other. 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  117 

This  clespatclied  lie  secured  a  prescription 
for  a  solution  o£  opium,  cliloral  aud  chloroform 
which  did  avray  with  any  further  need  of  arous- 
ing the  porter,  and  of  which,  when  sleepless 
and  in  pain,  he  was  to  take  one-half  of  one 
ounce. 

It  was  on  Thursday  that  he  sailed.  Eight 
days  later,  at  six  in  the  erening,  he  landed  at 
Hoboken  and  drove  to  his  house. 


ii8 


MADAM  BAPPHiSa* 


IX. 

The  house  was  empty  as  a  vacant  bier, 
barred  and  bolted,  unliglited,  and  to  his  repeated 
summons  dumb.  None  the  less,  through  that 
curious  optimism  which  will  visit  even  the  con- 
demned, Nevius  told  himself  that  he  was  but 
the  victim  of  some  accident,  presently  to  be 
explained.  He  was  disheartened  indeed  during 
the  trip  across  he  had  done  little  but  prefigure 
the  almost  instant  reunion,  which  must  occur 
when  he  stood  once  again  face  to  face  with  his 
wife,  yet  in  spite  of  the  agony  of  the  disap- 
pointment, as  he  descended  the  steps  he 
affected,  through  that  duality  common  to  cer- 
tain natures,  to  make  light  of  the  whole  thing, 
and  wondered  what  had  become  of  Michette. 

"  Drive  to  the  Brevoort,"  he  ordered. 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA,  119 

But  before  the  cab  reached  the  avenue,  the 
current  of  his  thought  had  veered,  and  counter- 
manding the  first  order,  told  the  man  to  drive 
to  the  Snaiths.  For  it  was  there  she  must  be. 
And,  a  cigarette  between  his  lips,  he  threv\^  him- 
self back  and  resolutely  dispossessed  his  mind 
of  thought. 

The  cigarette  done,  he  began  on  another. 
Before  he  had  finished  it,  the  carriage  stopped 
at  that  corner  of  Madison  avenue  where,  years 
before,  he  had  sipped  the  brew  whose  effect  was 
•potent  still.  Through  the  glass  above  the  door 
came  a  light  from  the  hall  beyond.  The  win- 
dows of  the  drawing-room,  too,  were  lighted, 
and  from  the  rooms  on  either  side  of  the  en- 
trance there  came  also  a  filter  of  gas.  Yes, 
she  was  there.  And  he  rang  the  bell,  not 
violently,  but  with  a  certain  energy  of  his  own. 

"Where  is  Mrs.  Nevius?" 

The  woman  who  had  opened  the  door,  started 


120  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

as  at  a  malefactor,  but  immediately  slie  re- 
covered herself. 

"I  don't  know,  sir.  Would  you  wisli  to  see 
Mrs.  Snaitli?" 

Nevius  nodded.  For  the  life  of  him  he  could 
not  question  the  servant  further.  He  entered 
a  reception  room  and  stalked  to  and  fro,  though 
whether  for  one  minute  or  fifty,  he  afterward 
forgot.  The  intermediate  was  submerged  and 
forever  lost  when  Mrs.  Snaith  appeared.  But 
the  cabman  remembered,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  these  pages  that  may  suffice. 

"  Where  is  Hilda?  "  he  asked,  and,  prompted 
by  the  teachings  of  an  earlier  education,  he 
raised  her  hand  to  his  lips. 

Mrs.  Snaith  withdrew  the  hand  and  for  a 
moment  eyed  him  strabismally,  then  in  the 
deprecatory  manner  which  was  peculiar  to  her, 
addressed  the  floor. 

"We  thought — that  is,  we  heard — Hilda 
said  that— you  were  to  remain  abroad." 


Mal;_         .    3IEA.  121 

TVliere  is  she?    I  .    .  Iicr/' 

Mrs.  Snaitli  fluttered  lierpoliia  hands. 

"  She  is  not  \velh    She  is  not  well  at  all. 

In  fact,  she  is  too  ill  to  see  Ton.'' 

"  To  ill  to  see  /i^^c'.    Yriiat  nonsense.    I  shall 

see  her.    Is  she  upstairs  r 

As  he  spoke  he  turned.    ]Mrs.  Snaith  made 

no  attempt  to  detai]i  him. 

Hilda  is  away,"  she  remarked.  "Mr.  Snaith 

is  upstairs  if  tou  care  to  see  him.,  but  won't 
J-  t. 

the  lawyers  do?"' 

Lawyers  I  "What  lawyers  ?  ' * 

Through  sheer  surprise  Z^Irs.  Snaith  for  the 
first  time  in  her  life  looked  him  in  the  face. 

"  Yrhen  did  tou  o'et  here?  "" 

"  An  hour  ago." 

"  And  donH  you  know  that  the  suit  has  been 
begun?*' 

Xevius  had  been  standing,  but  at  this  state- 
ment he  dropped  into  a  chair  and  covered  his 
eyes. 


In  a  musing,  contemplative  way  the  lady 
gazed  at  him,  and  presently,  with  a  sort 
inquiring  defiance,  she  added — 

"  Of  course  you  won't  contest  it." 

Nevius  looked  up.  There  was  such  be- 
wilderment in  his  expression  that  the  lady 
grew  bolder. 

"  The  lawyers  say  that  it  is  a  clear  case," 
she  announced  a  little  loftily. 

"A  clear  case  of  what?  Do  tell  me  what 
you  mean." 

Hilda  wrote  to  you  I  am  sure." 

"  Hilda  wrote  nothing.  She  told  me  that  an 
affair  of  mine  had  come  out.  That  she  was  a 
broken-hearted  woman  because  of  it.  The  in- 
stant I  got  her  letter  I  started  to  come  hero. 
If  I  have  not  got  here  sooner,  it's  through  no 
fault  of  mine.  But  I  cabled  her;  didn't  she 
get  it?" 

Mrs.  Snaith  shrugged  her  shoulders. 


"It's  all  very  well  to  send  cablegrams  from 
London.  What  you  ought  to  have  done  wa:- 
to  have  behaved  yourself  in  New  York.  And 
it's  all  very  vv^ell  for  you  to  look  at  me  that 
way.  You  know  better  than  anyone.  It  took 
Hilda  a  long  time  before  she  could  believe  such 
a  thing  possible  of  either  of  you.  But  I  knew 
what  kind  of  a  creature  she  was  the  first  time 
I  set  eyes  on  her." 

"  But  can't  you  tell  me,"  Nevius  cried, 
"  can't  you  tell  me  whom  you  mean?  ' 

Mrs.  Snaith's  thin  lips  filled  with  abundant 
scorn. 

"  Why,  your  mistress,  of  course,  that  Adulam 
girl-" 

Nevius  was  on  his  feet  by  this  time,  the 
expression  in  his  face  was  not  pleasant  to 
behold,  he  was  quite  white  beside;  and  when 
he  confronted  the  lady,  as  he  instantly  did,  his 
voice  was  not  wholly  assured. 


124  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"I  Lave  never  contradicted  a  woman  in  mj 
life,  never  to  my  knowledge  liave  I  been  un- 
civil to  one,  bnt — " 

He  liesitated,  and  with  a  gasp  wliich  must 
Lave  been  tlie  escape  of  rage  compressed, 
abruptly  Le  mastered  Limself. 

"  Nor  will  I  begin  with  you." 

TLere  was  a  bell  on  tLe  table,  Le  turned  and 
toucLed  it. 

"  But  it  is  my  duty  to  Miss  Adulam  to  say — " 
A  servant  appeared,  and  interrupting  him- 
self, Le  addressed  Ler. 

"  Tell  Mr.  SnaitL  I  wisL  to  see  Lim." 
And  as  tLe  servant  disappeared  Le  added : 
*'  It  is  my  duty  to  Ler  to  say  tLat  your 
accusation  would  be  monstrous  wore  it  not 
absurd." 

TLe  lady  smiled  stealtLily.  Sucli  a  remark 
could  be  treated  witL  disdain.  And,  smiling, 
left  tLe  room. 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA.  12b 

Nevius  neither  saw  nor  heeded.  He  stood, 
his  head  bowed,  his  hands  behind  his  back, 
till  there  came  a  shuffle  of  feet  in  the  hall,  and 
an  obese  dwarf  with  an  erjsipeliptic  skin 
halted  in  the  doorway. 

*'Well?  mat  do  you  want?  I'll  teach 
you  to  cut  me  in  the  street. 

Nevius  reached  for  his  hat  and  put  it  on. 

"  Your  wife  has  charged  Miss  Adulam — " 

"My  wife?  My  wife  isn't  in  the  habit  of 
making  charges — " 

"Permit  me,  you  are  wrong,  she  is.  It  is 
not  so  long  ago  she  hired  a  parcel  of  detectives 
to  manufacture  evidence  against  Moutrion,  and 
if  Mrs.  Montrion  didn't  use  it,  it  was  only  be- 
cause, as  she  told  me  herself,  she  was  afraid 
Montrion  would  shoot  her." 

"  It's  a  lie." 

"What  your  wife  says  in  regard  to  Miss 
Adulam  may  be  so  described.    She  knows  it 


126  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

and  so  do  yon.  What  Hilda  thinks  I  have  yet 
to  learn." 

"  If  you  don't  know  already,  more  fool  you. 
If  you  have  come  here  v/ith  any  intention  of 
contesting  this  suit,  you  might  as  well  go  back. 
The  lawyers  have  daughters  of  their  own  and 
they  say  they'll  make  an  example  of  you." 

"Ah!  you  may  tell  them  from  me  that  I  will 
contest  it  until  the  last  armed  court  of  appeal? 
expires — which  I  suppose  is  just  what  they 
want." 

"By  God  then,  if  you  do,  I'll  ruin  you." 

"And  you  may  say,  too,  that  I  shall  be  at  the 
Brevoort  until  I  can  get  into  my  own  house, 
and  meanwhile  whenever  they  take  a  fancy  to 
serve  the  summons — " 

"You've  been  served,"  the  dwarf  shouted. 
"  You've  been  served  by  publication.  When  I 
employ  lawyers  I  g^t  mr  money's  worth.  The 
papers  are  full  of  it  " 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  127 

Nevius  ripped  a  glove  in  two. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  liave  got  Miss 
Adulam's  name  in  connection  with  mine?" 

In  his  voice  were  such  angers,  in  his  bearing 
such  threats,  that  the  dwarf  wheeled  like  a  rat 
sui'prised. 

"Then  you  ought  to  be  trampled  under 
foot,"  Nevius  gnashed,  and  striding  after  him 
cried,  "  In  Hebrew  there  are  four  words  for 
reptile,  in  my  vocabulary  there  is  but  one — 

The  old  man  squirmed  to  the  stairs,  shrieks 
ing  obscenities,  fearful  of  attack. 

But  the  front  door  opened  and  closed.  Xev- 
ius  had  gone. 


128 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA 


X. 

"  Carol,  this  is  the  saddest  thing  that  ever 
happened  to  me." 

On  reaching  the  hotel,  Neviiis,  after  securing 
rooms,  had  sent  for  the  papers.  On  the  first 
page  of  the  one  he  first  examined  was  his  name 
in  leaded  type,  and  beneath  it,  written  in  that 
reporter  spirit  which  stops  not  even  at  a  col- 
umn, was  an  account  of  the  last  sensation,  the 
petition  of  Mrs.  Carol  Nevius.  for  divorce  on 
the  ground  of  her  husband's  adultery  with 
Janet  Adulam  and  Gertrude  Yuhrer.  Though 
he  had  eaten  nothing  since  noon,  he  sickened 
as  he  read,  and  was  obliged  to  put  the  page 
down.  The  remainder  of  the  article  declared 
that  after  a  painful  scene  at  his  house  he  had 
confessed  his  misconduct  and  fled  abroad.  The 
other    papers   contained   articles   of  similar 


Madam  sapphiea.  129 

tenour,  though  one,  more  enterprising  perhaps, 
stated  that  the  correspondents  were  the  house- 
maid and  the  cook. 

An  hour  passed  before  Xevius  could  hold  a 
pen,  then  he  had  sent  a  message  to  Jones,  and 
now,  as  the  novelist,  cloaked  in  an  Inverness, 
the  white  of  his  neckcloth  just  visible,  entered 
the  room,  there  was  no  cynicis2n  in  his  voice,  a 
sympathy  merely,  abiding  and  sincere. 

"  The  saddest,"  he  repeated  with  just  a 
glance  at  where  the  papers  lay.  "If  there  are 
words  of  consolation  I  do  not  know  them." 

"It  is  hideous,"  Nevius  muttered.  "  I  don't 
wonder  you  advised  me  to  remain  where  I 
was — " 

"Did  I  suppose — could  any  one  suppose 
such  a  thing  possible?  When  I  read  that 
drivel  I  was  in  a  rage  beside  which  the  anger 
of  Achilles  was  a  fleeting  annoyance.  Your 
wife  ought  to  be  tarred  and  feathered." 

9 


130  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

Nevius  raised  a  hand  in  protest. 
"It  is  not  lier  fault.    It's  that  father-in-law 
of  mine." 

,  "  Father-aZ-law  you  mean.  But  that's  nei- 
ther here  nor  there.  The  thing  is  done,  and  a 
more  abominable  iniquity  never  was  com- 
mitted. That  your  wife  should  wish  a  divorce, 
passe  encore.  But  that  in  her  effort  to  get  it 
she  should  put  a  young  girl  into  leaded  type, 
a  girl  who  was  her  intimate  friend;  a  girl 
whose  people  were  governors  of  New  York  at 
a  time  when  the  Snaiths,  if  they  existed,  were 
cleaning  the  streets ;  no,  in  the  entire  history 
.of  civilized  life  there  is  no  parallel  for  it. 
And  who  is  this  other  correspondent?  Why 
didn't  she  stick  to  her  and  let  Miss  Adulam 
out?" 

"Hilda  had  nothing  to  do  with  it!"  Nevius 
answered  dejectedly.  "Don't  say  anything 
against  her.    I  can't  and  won't  permit  it." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  131 

"Bosh." 

But  the  novelist  spoke  in  an  undertone. 
From  a  box  on  the  table  he  took  a  gold-tipped 
cigarette,  at  which  article  o£  London  luxury  he 
sniffed,  and  for  a  while  there  was  silence  in 
that  room. 

But  presently  Nevius,  who  had  sat,  his  face 
in  his  hands,  looked  wearily  up  at  his  friend. 
"What  do  they  say?" 

"Who?  People  in  general?  Every  one 
seems  to  be  very  w^ell  pleased.  Some  of  the 
men  are  indignant  at  the  publicity,  knowing 
how,  in  similar  circumstances,  they  would  feel 
themselves.  Others  are  indignant,  too,  but 
their  indignation  is  partly  envy,  partly  disgust, 
at  having  no  such  chances  themselves.  As  for 
the  women,  that  is  a  different  guitar.  You 
have  got  one  of  their  sacred  sex  into  trouble, 
and  as  a  body  they  won't  forgive.  Though  in- 
dividually, were  you  not  rather  compromising 

I 


132  MADAM  SAPPIIIRA. 

at  present,  you  miglit  toss  moiiogrammed  cam- 
brics as  before.  On  the  whole,  then,  I  may 
say  that  people  in  general  are  rather  pleased 
than  otherwise.  There  is  a  land  where  there 
is  much  joy  over  the  sinner  that  repents.  In 
the  world  we  live  in  the  joy  is  at  his  detection." 

Neviiis  leaned  across  the  table. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  it  is  believed?  " 

"  Well,  you  know  — "  And  for  a  second 
the  unembarrassable  Jones  actually  hesitated. 
"  You  see,  Carol,  to  be  frank  with  you,  more 
or  less,  don't  you  know,  for  some  time  past 
people  have  connected  Miss  Adulam's  name 
with  yours.  And  they  say,  you  know,  that 
there  were  times  when  she — well,  when  she 
came  to  see  you." 

Nevius  sank  back. 

*'  But  even  so,"  he  queried.    "  Even  so — " 
"  Oh,  if  you  put  it  in  that  light,  in  any  light 
for  that  matter,  I  am  with  you.    Of  course  it 


MABAM  SAPPHIRA. 


133 


was  sufficient  for  me  to  see  it  stated  that  you 
had  made  a  confession,  to  know  that  you  had 
done  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  is  what  we  don't 
do  that  gets  into  the  papers,  never  what  w^e 
have  done,  which  after  all,''  the  novelist  added 
to  himself,  "  is  sufficient  for  most  of  us.  The 
point  is  here,  however,  people  had  doubts,  now 
they  have  none.  Naturally  you  will  declare 
Miss  Adulam  innocent,  and  the  world  will  treat 
her  as  though  you  had  never  opened  your 
head.  But  tell  me,  what  sort  of  evidence  have 
they?" 

"Evidence!  As  God  is  my  witness  that 
girl  is  as  straight  as  your  sister." 

The  reply  came  so  abruptly,  in  a  voice  so 
indignant,  and  yet  so  earnest,  that  the  novelist 
stared.  Not  for  a  moment  had  he  doubted  but 
that  the  facts  were  as  Mrs.  Nevius  stated  them. 

His  anger,  his  sympathy,  too,  were  due  to 
the  knowledge  that  people  of  ordinary  refine- 


134:  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

ment  do  not  permit  certain  forms  of  publicity. 
That  Miss  Adulam  had  taken  a  step  aside,  that 
Nevius  had  aided  and  abetted  in  the  taking  of 
that  step,  were  matters  which  concerned  him 
not  in  the  least.  To  his  thinking  the  wanton- 
ness of  the  whole  affair  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Nevius,  in  her  desire  for  a  divorce, 
had  not  gone  about  it  in  such  a  way  that  no 
one,  not  even  the  attorneys,  could  suspect  that 
there  was  so  much  as  a  shred  of  linen  which 
needed  the  services  of  a  laundress.  Men  and 
women  of  decent  breeding  sunk  their  private 
grievances  and  separated  with  mutual  delight, 
no  doubt,  but  also  with  common  courtesy.  The 
act  which  Mrs.  Nevius  had  committed  was  the 
act  of  a  scullion,  at  best  of  a  young  person  in 
Harlem.  No  matter  how  outraged  she  had 
felt,  refinement  should  have  inhibited  her  from 
disgracing  a  girl  before  the  eyes  of  the  multi- 
tude.   It  was  that  which  had   aroused  his 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  135 

wrath,  not  once  liad  the  suspicion  come  to  him 
that  the  charge  might  not  be  true. 

But  now  as  he  stared  at  Xevius  he  saw  that 
it  was  false.  He  was  far  too  old  a  bird  to  be 
caught  with  chaff.  He  was  far  too  good  a 
critio  of  private  theatricals  not  to  know  the 
true  ring  when  he  heard  it,  and  as  he  saw  in  j 
Neyius'  face,  in  his  bearing  and  attitude,  that 
transfiguring  innocence  which  only  the  guilt- 
less can  display,  he  pounded  the  table  with  his 
fist. 

"By  George  then,  if  that's  the  case  this 
whole  matter  is  more  damnable  than  it  was 
before.  Why,  Carol,  Bernhardt  isn't  in  it  with 
your  wife.  " 

"  It' isn't  my  wife,  I  tell  you,  it's  her  people. 
You  know  hoYv  they  acted  in  regard  to  Mon- 
trion.  They  have  done  the  same  thing  to  me, 
with  this  difference,  Fanny  Mortrion  was  behind 
the  scenes,  and  Hilda  knew  nothing  until  they 
got  their  trumped  charges  in  shape.     It  must 


136  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

have  nearly  killed  her,  though,  puzzle  as  I  may, 
I  don't  see  how  they  ever  got  her  to  believe 
them,  and  what's  more,  I  don't  believe  they 
have.  When  I  see  her  to-morrow  it  will  take 
me  just  one  minute  to  disabuse  her  mind.  Her 
mother  says  she  is  ill,  and  God  knows  I  am 
too.  " 

"You've  seen  the  mother,  have  you? 

"  Yes,  she  wouldn't  tell  me  where  Hilda 
was,  she  kept  repeating  that  she  was  too  ill  to 
see  any  one.  " 

"  She  was  at  the  opera  to  night " ;  said 
Jones  very  quietly. 

"Impossible! " 

"You  may  well  say  that,  but  I  saw  her. 
She  was  with  the  Andersons  in  their  box.  I 
asked  Anderson  how  she  could  show  herself 
when  the  papers  were  dripping  with  the  scan- 
dal she  Lad  made — " 

"Well?" 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  137 

"  He  laughed.  '  She  has  come  to  enjoy  her 
revenge! '  he  told  me.  " 

Nevius  got  up,  went  to  the  sideboard  and 
pouring  out  a  glass  of  whisky  drank  it  off. 

Jones  watched  him.  When  he  turned  the 
novelist  added: 

"  In  the  circumstances  I  wouldn't  try  to  see 
her.  She  has  left  you,  it  should  be  beneath 
your  dignity  to  approach  her  in  any  way." 

Nevius  shook  his  head  helplessly. 

"How  dense  you  are!  You  don't  or  wont 
understand.  She  is  a  w^oman  after  all,  and  no 
matter  how  she  may  suffer  she  has  too  much 
pride  to  show  it.  I  think  she  ought  not  to 
have  gone  to  the  opera  to-night,  whether  she 
believed  this  thing  or  whether  she  didn' t,  and 
I  think  too  the  Andersons  alone  could  have  had 
the  bad  taste  to  invite  her.  But  none  the  less 
I  make  every  excuse  for  her.  Supposing  our 
position  reversed,  what  is  there  that  I  might 
not  do?" 


138  madaim:  sapphiea. 

*' He  has  the  faith  of  a  little  child,  "  the 
novelist  mused,  "it's  pathetic.  " 

"But  tell  me,  what  did  she  say  when  you 
saw  her?" 

"  Nothing  very  pleasant.  To  be  candid,  she 
doesn't  seem  to  have  the  same  good  opinion  of 
you  that  you  have  of  her.  " 

And  Jones,  knocking  the  ashes  from  his 
cigarette,  added  meditatively: 

But  then  you  may  be  both  in  error." 

This  little  conclusion  may  not  have  reached 
Nevius;  he  was  pacing  the  floor. 

"  I  know  I  have  been  selfish,  "  he  muttered. 
"  Damn  selfish.    But  I  can't  understand — " 

"  See  here,  dear  boy.  I  will  go  to  her  to- 
morrow. If  she  is  to  be  argued  with,  I  think  I 
can  handle  her.  But  do  you  get  to  bed;  it's 
after  two,  and  you  look  like  the  devil.  Leave 
the  matter  in  my  hands." 

Nevius  stopped  short  in  his  walk  and  gazed 
at  his  friend. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


139 


"  Do  you  know  I  don't  realize  it?  I  can't 
realize  it.  But  if  by  any  chance  I  were  con- 
vinced that  she  was  not  to  return  to  me — " 

A  gesture  completed  the  sentence. 

*'  Bah !"  And  the  novelist  smiled  compla- 
cently. "Suicide  is  out  of  fashion,  dear  boy, 
and  vulgar  too.  Now  listen  to  me.  To-morrow  the 
Snaiths  will  probably  let  you  into  your  house. 
From  what  you  said  in  your  note  I  suppose  you 
will  want  servants.  I  will  attend  to  that. 
Now  get  to  bed.  I  told  you  you  looked  like 
the  devil,  I  should  have  said — you  did.  The 
devil  is  a  very  fascinating  person,  Carol,  and 
unless  you  take  some  care  of  yourself  you  will 
entirely  cease  to  resemble  him." 

Oh,  no  doubt;  and  the  novelist  gone,  the 
care  which  Nevius  proceeded  to  take  of  himself 
consisted  in  more  whisky,  and  on  top  of  it  a 
draught  of  the  London  drug. 


140 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


XI. 

The  morrow  was  charming,  half  spring,  half 
autumn,  with  just  that  touch  of  frostiness  which 
makes  the  blood  beat  fast.  Nevius  shivered, 
his  eyes  were  heavy,  his  mind  dull,  his  face 
yellow  and  blotched,  the  mouth  drawn.  He 
had  looked  at  a  mirror  and  had  not  looked 
again.  Whisky  bloats  and  opium  disfigures. 
The  ice  water  of  a  bath  had  brought  a  glow,  but 
that  had  gone;  he  was  trembling ;  it  was  a  stim- 
ulant he  needed,  no  doubt,  and  he  called  for 
absinthe. 

With  the  drink  a  hall-boy  came.  There  was 
a  gentleman  below  with  some  keys  and  a  mes- 
sage.   Should  he  come  up  ? 

Nevius,  his  hand  Uncertain  and  vacillant, 
swallowed  the  absinthe  before  he  spoke. 


MADAM   SAPPHIRA.  141 

"Yes,  he  may  come.  And — ^vhat  was  it  I 
wauted? — oh,  fetch  the  morning  papers.'' 

But  the  drink  did  him  good.  And  pres- 
ently, at  a  knock,  he  opened  the  door. 

Before  him  stood  a  stout,  young  Jew,  revolt- 
ing as  uncleanliness  and  vulgarity  could  make 
him.  Yet,  who  vaguely,  desjDite  his  nose  and 
his  youth  resembled  Mr.  Snaith. 

"Is  your  name  C.  Xevius?  "Well,  here's 
some  keys  and  a  summons." 

Nevius  closed  the  door,  the  keys  and  sum- 
mons in  his  hand.  By  whom  could  he  he  sum- 
moned now '?  But  the  mandate  was  perfectly 
legible.  The  complainant  was  Hilda  Xevius, 
and  did  he  not  in  twenty  days  appear  or  answer, 
judgment  for  relief  demanded  would  be  taken 
by  default.    Signed,  Tooth  and  Tooth. 

Tooth  and  Tooth?  Ah,  yes,  the  divorce 
sharks.  Service  by  publication  was  not  suffi- 
cient then.    Apparently  these  gentlemen  were 


142  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

in  haste.  And  to  think  that  Hilda  could  be 
capable — 

The  boy  had  come  with  the  papers,  but  his 
coming  and  going  passed  unmarked.  For  an 
hour,  that  seemed  a  minute,  Nevius  sat  wonder- 
ing at  his  wife.  A  man  who  suffers  is  never 
bored. 

But  what  did  the  hall-boy  want  now  ?  Mr. 
Harding,  of  the  Chronicle,  was  below,  was  he  ? 
And  Mr.  Robinson,  of  the  Despatch,  and  Mr. 
McGrath,  of  the  Evening  Star  9  Well,  below, 
deeper  down  even,  for  all  of  him  they  might 
remain.  And  yet,  had  he  only  Hilda  to  con- 
sider?  "Was  there  not  Jenny,  too? 

"Show  them  up,"  he  ordered,  and  passing 
into  the  bed-room  changed  his  dressing  suit  for 
morning  garb.  When  he  returned,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  were  there.  Mr.  Hard- 
ing, who  was  sharpening  a  pencil,  took  the 
matter  on  himself. 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  143 

"Mr.  Kevins,  I  believe?  Mr.  Nevius,  Ibave 
come  to  ask  wbat  you  bave  to  say  in  reply  to 
the  cbarges  in  yesterday's  papers?  You  bave 
seen  tbein,  I  suppose?" 

"Yes,  I  bave  seen  it  stated  tbat  I  made  a 
confession,  and  tben,  to  escape  tbe  conse- 
quences, fled  abroad.  I  bad  no  confession  to 
make ;  I  made  none,  and  tbe  fact  tbat  I  am  bere 
sbould,  I  tbink,  be  evidence  tbat  consequences 
do  not  intimidate  me.  To  tbis  I  bave  notbinij 
to  add,  except  tbat  tbe  cbarges  brougbt  against 
tbe  young  women  named  in  tbe  complaint  are 
absolutely  -witbout  foundation." 

"  Sball  you  contest  tbe  suit?"  inquired  Mr. 
Eobinson. 

"If  it  is  not  witbdrawn,  as  I  am  convinced 
it  must  be,  I  certainly  sball." 

""What  bave  you  to  say  in  regard  to  Mrs. 
Nevius?" 

"  Mrs.  Nevius  does  not  enter  into  tbe  matter. 


144  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

There  is  no  need  for  any  mention  of  lier  name." 

"Yon  tliink  then,"  began  the  representative 
of  the  Star^  "  that  the  suit  was  instigated  by- 
third  parties  ?  " 

"I  think  nothing  about  it.  I  know.  But 
this  gentleman — "  and  Nevius  indicated  Mr. 
Harding  " — asked  if  I  had  any  statement  to 
make.  I  have  made  one.  If  you  will  publish 
that  and  nothing  else  you  will  oblige  me." 

*'  But—" 

"At  this  moment,  I  regret,  I  am  occupied 
I  must  ask  you  to  excuse  me." 

The  door  behind  him  was  open,  and  through 
it  he  retreated,  angry  with  himself,  angry  with 
fate,  angry  with  the  world. 

When  he  returned,  there  was  the  hall- boy 
again.  This  time  with  a  note  from  Jones  to 
the  effect  that  he  had  secured  servants  and 
would  look  in  later  on. 

"  I  send  you  the  keys."    Nevius  scribbled 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  145 

in  reply.  *'  Tell  the  servants  to  meet  me  at  the 
house,  and  do  come  before  midnight." 

The  answer  despatched,  he  sat  down  and 
tried  to  think,  to  forget  rather  and  not  to 
remember. 


10 


146 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


XII. 

Already  the  afternoon  had  taken  itself  off. 
A  sun,  red  as  ceiling-wax  burned  and  subsided, 
leaving  a  sky  of  dead  rose  and  water-green. 
Then  shadows  came,  lapping  the  walls,  devour- 
ing the  furniture,  creating  abysses  into  which 
objects  disappeared,  mysteriously,  one  by  one. 

When  night  was  wholly  there,  Nevius  groped 
for  his  hat  and  gloves.  Presently  he  was  in 
the  street,  in  a  few  minutes  at  his  house.  Yes. 
Jones  had  been  as  good  as  his  word.  There  were 
lights  in  the  windows  and  the  outer  door  of  the 
vestibule  was  open.  With  a  latch-key  he  let  him- 
self in.  The  hall  was  chill,  bleak  too,  sonorous 
beneath  his  tread.  But  where  were  the  hang- 
ings and  tapestries,  where  were  the  plants,  the 
pedestalled  lamps,  the  silken  cushions,  the 


MADAM   SAPPHIEA.  147 

candles  with  their  yellow  shades,  all  the  at- 
tributes of  ease  that  six  weeks  before  had  filled 
the  drawing-room?  Surely  this  was  not  his 
house,  or  else  had  the  sheriffs  passed  that  way. 
But  it  was  his  house,  and  why  was  it  dis- 
mantelled?  Where  had  the  scent  of  the  iris 
gone?  Ah,  yes ;  he  remembered.  These  things 
were  Hilda's,  all  of  them,  even  to  the  scent 
of  the  iris,  and  in  leaving  him,  necessarily  she 
had  taken  her  chattels  too. 

And  the  floor  above!  Truly  were  it  not  for 
the  chill  he  mio^ht  have  thouo^ht  it  summer 
time  and  Hilda  off  to  the  sea-shore,  so  properly 
had  little  familiar  things  been  put  away.  But 
what  was  that  on  her  bureau  from  which  every- 
thing else  had  gone?  Nothing,  a  picture  of 
himself  merely,  overlooked,  no  doubt,  p.nd  for- 
gotten. Yet  was  it  a  picture  of  himself?  At 
least  if  he  had  ever  had  the  youth  and  alert- 
ness with  which  the  picture  credited  him, 
never  would  he  have  them  again. 


148  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

The  library  which  so  long  and  well  had  sep- 
arated her  room  from  his  had,  out  of  gratitude, 
perhaps,  been  left  untouched.  There  were  the 
yellow  shelves  of  law,  the  darker  tomes  of  his- 
tory, and  here,  in  smooth  maroon,  stamped  with 
the  Nevius  crest,  were  the  classics  of  Greece 
and  Eome,  Beyond  were  the  caryatides  of  lit- 
erary France,  Corneille,  Racine,  Moliere,  dusty 
and  undisturbed.  But  this  empty  space  be- 
neath ?  Surely  Hilda  never  could  have  taken 
away  the  little  gifts  she  had  made  him  before 
she  bestowed  that  great  gift  which  was  herself. 
The  Owen  Meredith  from  which  in  the  gardens 
of  Bronx  she  had  repeated  to  him: 

Since  we  parted  yester  eve, 

I  do  love  thee,  love,  believe. 

Twelve  times  dearer,  twelve  times  longer, 

One  dream  deeper,  one  night  stronger, 

One  sun  surer,  thus  much  more 

Than  I  loved  thee,  love,  before. 

The  Aldrich  from  which  he  had  read  to  her: 

But  there  will  come  a  time,  my  love. 
When  if  I  read  our  stars  aright 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


149 


I  shall  not  linger  at  your  side 

TTith.  my  adieux,    Till  then,  good-night. 

You  wish  that  time  vrere  now?    And  I! 

You  do  not  blush  to  wish  it  so? 

You  would  have  blushed  yourself  to  death 

To  own  as  much  a  year  ago. 

And  the  Sonnets  of  Proteus: 

TThat  shall  it  matter,  when  our  heads  are  gray, 
AVhether  we  loved,  or  did  not  love  to-day? 

And  the  Swinburne: 

A  little  while  and  we  die:  shall  life  not  thrive  as  it  may? 
For  no  man  imder  the  sky  lives  twice,  outliving  his  day. 

But  though  the  rhymes  returned  unprompt- 
ed, where  were  the  books  ?  T\'here  was  the 
Festiis,  the  Eosetti,  the  Tennyson  ?  Surely 
she  couki  not  have  taken  these  gifts  away. 
But  then,  what  had  she  done  with  herself? 
And  why  did  the  gas  burn  so  dimly?  Or  was 
it  a  mist  that  had  got  to  his  eyes  ? 

"I  beg  pardon,  sir — " 

Xeyius  started.  At  the  door  a  man  stood, 
coatless,  looking  at  him.  I  am  Patrick,  sir; 
my  wife  is  in  the  kitchen,  would  you — 


150  MADAM  SArPHIEA. 

"Yes,  of  course.  I  know.  Let  me  see — 
suppose  you  go  to  the  Brevoort  and  get  my 
tilings.  Tell  them  to  seaid  the  bill  to  my  office. 
And  what  time  is  it?  No,  I  can't  eat  anything, 
but  if  there  is  any  whisky  lying  about,  you 
might  bring  it  up." 

"Yes,  sir;  thank  you,  sir.  Mr.  Jones  is  in 
the  parlor.    Shall  I  ask  him  here?" 

But  before  the  novelist  entered  the  room, 
Nevius  lit  a  cigarette  and  hid  his  face  in  smoke. 

"Well?" 

"Well,  I  have  seen  your  princess,  and  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned  I  can  dispense  with  the 
honor  of  seeing  her  again.  Calumny  is  to  her 
what  venom  is  to  the  adder,  a  sole  defence.  A 
harder,  an  unjuster  woman  I  have  never  met, 
no  not  even  in  the  masquerades  of  my  own 
fiction.  Her  entire  accusation  has  no  other 
foundation  than  the  tattle  of  the  servants' 
hall." 


MADAM   SAPPHIEA.  151 

"  She  is  annoyed,  Alphabet.  So  would  I  he. 
Don't  say  anything  against  her.  Ton  don't 
know  her  as  I  do.  Yon  don't  know  the  letter 
she  wrote  me.  Her  heart  is  breaking.  But 
when  I  see  her  to-morrow — " 

"  See  her!  You'll  never  see  her  till  you  meet 
in  court.  She  is  furious,  not  at  all  because  of 
this  thing,  but  because  you  have  returned. 
Her  attorney  told  her  they  would  get  a  divorce 
in  short  order  and  here  you  are  declaring  you 
will  contest  it.  You  have  upset  her  calcula- 
tions.   She  fancied  she  could  be  free  a.t  once." 

"Yes,  but  then  she  didn't  understand.  I 
assure  you  she  will  be  very  sorry  when  she 
learns  the  truth,  very  sorry  indeed — " 

"  H'm,"  the  novelist  sniffed  and  smiled. 
"  TVheu  she  is,  I  send  my  resignation  to 
psychology.  She  knows  the  truth,  she  has 
always  known  it.  Never  for  a  second  has  she 
believed  the  charge  she  has  made.'*' 


152  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"It  is  not  Hilda;  I  have  told  you  that.  She 
wrote  me  that  she  was  so  dumb  and  crushed 
that  her  people  took  the  matter  entirely  out  of 
her  hands." 

On  the  table  at  which  Jones  had  seated  him- 
self, was  a  pile  of  bills  and  letters.  On  the  top- 
most was  the  imprint  of  the  District  Messenger 
Service.  Leisurely  the  novelist  reached  for  it. 
In  the  envelope  were  the  vouchers  of  the 
month  before.  Jones  drew  out  one,  then  an- 
other. 

Tell  me,"  he  presently  asked,  "when  did 
you  sail  for  Europe  ?  " 

"The  second  of  December." 

"Your  wife's  attorneys  are  Tooth  and  Tooth, 
are  they  not?  So  I  thought.  "Will  you  look 
at  this?  It  is  dated  2d  of  December  and  ad- 
dressed to  Tooth  and  Tooth,  who  you  will  see 
detained  the  messenger  one  hour  and  sent,  an 
answer  which  seems  to  have  been  received  by 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  153 

somebody  who  signed  herself  H.  Nevius.  Is  it 
your  wife's  writing?" 

The  ticket  he  k)ssed  across  the  table. 
Here  is  another,  same  date,  same  address. 
Here  is  another  dated  the  4th.  Here  is  an- 
other dated  the  5th.  For  a  lady  who  was  dumb 
and  crushed,  whose  affairs  had  been  taken  en- 
tirely out  of  her  hands,  it  seems  to  me  that  not 
only  she  was  very  agile  with  the  pen  but — " 

Nevius  sprang  at  him  fiercely. 

"  But  what?  It  is  on  evidence  of  that  kind 
she  has  condemned  me.  Poor  child,  she  knew 
no  better.  But  you,  who  have  accused  her  of 
listening  to  the  tattle  of  the  servants'  hall,  do 
you  expect  me  to  descend  the  back  stairs, 
too?    Give  me  those  tickets." 

Seizing  and  mutilating  them  he  flung  them 
at  his  feet,  and  in  the  same  hot  wrath  blurted: 

*'  If  you  have  anything  else  to  say  against 
my  wife,  say  it,  but  do  you  say  it  to  me." 


J  54  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

Eefiectively  the  novelist  contemplated  Ins 
finger-tips,  joiaed  tliem,  separated  tliem,  and 
joined  them  again. 

"  There  is  a  little  operation  I  must  perform 
on  you,  Carol.  One  which  will  pain,  but  which 
is  necessary  and  charitable." 

Mystified  by  this  preamble,  Nevius  stared. 

Jones  stood  up,  closed  the  door,  and  whis- 
pered to  his  friend. 

The  latter  shrank,  his  eyes  dilated,  his 
mouth  agape. 

"No,  no,  tell  me;  she  never  said  that!" 

"  She  has  then,  not  to  me  alone,  but  to 
everyone.  That  sweet  little  friend  of  hers, 
Mrs.  Anderson,  with  whom  she  is  stopping, 
fairly  revels  in  it.  There  isn't  a  man  in  town, 
nor  a  woman  either,  that  won't  hear  it  to- 
morrow." 

"When  Jones  got  the  scalpel  in  his  hand  he 
knew  where  and  how  to  cut.    But  then  in  this 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  155 

instance  lie  was  a  trifle  annoyed  at  the  slur  on 
his  friend. 

"AYhen  I  heard  it,"'  he  continued,  "I  did 
not  see  the  object.  I  have  since.  Mrs.  Carol 
understands  what  a  mess  she  has  made  of  it 
all,  and  she  is  trying  to  exculpate  herself  at 
any  cost.  If  there  is  a  single  thing  believable 
or  unbelieyable  that  she  and  Mrs.  Anderson 
are  capable  of  inventing  to  your  discredit, 
invent  it  they  will,  and  proclaim  it  too." 

Nevius  bowed  his  head.  The  hot  wrath 
must  have  gone. 

"How  sorry  she  will  be,"'  he  muttere  1. 
"  How  sorry,  how  sorry,  how  sorry  she  will 
be." 

What  was  there  in  that  for  Jones  to  laugh 
at?    Yet  laugh  he  did. 

"My  little  Hilda!"  Covering  his  face, 
Nevius  leaned  down  and  rested  his  arms  on  the 
table.  When  he  again  looked  up  his  eyes  may 
have  been  red,  but  they  were  steadfast  stilL 


156 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


"  Wait.  Wait  until  I  see  her.  For  siie 
must  see  me,  or — " 

Yes,  I  told  her  your  ultimatum  of  last  night 
Would  you  like  to  know  what  she  said?  It  is 
not  pleasant,  but  if  it  removes  this  cataract  of 
,yours  I  don't  mind.  She  said,  and  very  affably, 
mind  you,  in  that  little  voice  which  I  have 
heard  her  affect  when  she  wishes  to  impress: 
'  Tell  that  man  that  nothing  he  might  do  could 
cause  me  greater  pleasure,  except  to  send  him 
the  pistol  with  which  to  do  it. '  " 

As  in  pain  which  is  acute,  Nevius  dug  his 
nails  into  the  palms  of  his  hands,  and  for  a  while 
his  face,  tortured  with  the  retroacting  currents 
of  conflicting  thought,  expressed  only  a  suffer- 
ing, sentient  and  visible.  But  gradually  the 
hands  relaxed,  the  expression  modified,  and  you 
would  have  said  that  the  cure  which  Jones  had 
attempted  was  without  effect. 

"From  what  you  say,"  he  ventured  at  last, 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  157 

"  I  must  believe  that  Hilda's  condemnation  of 
me  is  complete.  But  then  I  have  been  horribly 
selfish—" 

"Her  condemnation  is  so  complete,"  the 
novelist  interrupted  "  that  it  absolves  you  from 
condemning  her.  In  the  total  lack  not  only  of 
justice  but  of  decency  which  she  displays, 
comfort  yourself  as  you  seem  disposed  to  do, 
by  being  charitable  to  her  and  unjust  to  your- 
self. It  is  not  nineteenth  century,  no,  but  by 
gad,  its  red-heel.  Carol,  I  want  you  for  a 
book." 

"  — So  selfish,"  Nevius  repeated,  "  that  some 
day  when  you  see  her  I  want  you  to  tell  her 
that  I  regret  it  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart." 

For  a  moment  he  looked  down  and  away,  but 
almost  immediately,  with  a  smile  that  was  its 
own  apology,  he  added: 

"  It's  best  to  take  people  as  they  find  us,  isn't 
it,  Alphabet?    You  have  been  very  good  to  me, 


158  MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 

very  considerate,  and  you  have  borne  magnifi- 
cently with  my  ill  temper.  I  want  to  thank 
you,  but  I  can't.    I  am  a  trifle  tired,  perhaps — " 

"  Yes,  you  had  better  get  to  bed.  But  I 
want  to  thank  you,  and  I  can,  for  teaching  me 
that  phrase.  It  is  best  to  take  people  as  they 
find  us.  E  vero  ed  ^  ben  irovato.  Trovaio? 
E  hen  Trovaiore!  " 

"What  is  that  saying  of  Ingall's?"  he 
mused  as  he  passed  down  the  stair.  "  'It  is 
just  as  well  to  let  dynamite  alone,  particular!]" 
when  it  happens  to  be  intelligent  and  has  a 
grievance.'  When  Nevius  understands  what  I 
do,  he  will  kill  that  woman,  and  by  George, 
when  he  does,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I 
shall  want  to  be  on  the  jury." 

"  Patrick,  is  that  you?"  he  interrupted  him- 
self to  ask.  "  Patrick,  do  you  keep  an  eye  on 
Mr.  Nevius,  he  is  not  at  all  well.  Should  he  be 
ill  during  the  night  send  for  me  at  once,  don't 


MADA^r   SAPPHIRA.  159 

call  a  messeuger,  riiig  up  a  cab.  and  tell  the 
driver  it's  a  fiver  it  lie  gets  me  liere  in  no 
time/' 

AVitli  tliat,  this  serviceable  writer  of  immoral 
fiction  buttoned  his  Inverness  and  left  the 
house. 

"Patrick,"  said  Xevius  a  little  later,  "here 
is  a  prescription,  take  it  to  Asquitlrs  on  the 
corner,  get  it  filled  and  tell  the  druggist  I  want 
to  speak  to  him.  Ton  found  some  whisky,  did 
you?    Very  good,  put  it  there.'' 

Potiring  a  little  of  the  liquor  ottt,  he  drank  it 
off.  Under  its  influence  the  stupor  fell  from 
him.  He  began  a  letter,  which  must  have  been 
diffi-Cidt  however:  the  rio'ht  words  would  not 
always  come  and  there  was  a  blur  in  his  eyes 
besides.  But  lie  got  it  done,  and  addressing  it 
to  his  wife,  .immediately  be  began  another  t) 
Miss  Adulam,  a  third  to  Tredeo^ar.  In  writing: 
these  also  his  pen  often  stopped,  hesitant  and 


160  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

perplexed,  but  when  at  last  tliey  were  all 
finished,  and  on  a  fresh  sheet  he  began  the 
"Know  all  men  by  these  presents his  pen  went 
rapidly  enough,  as  he  devised  his  property, 
real  and  personal,  of  whatever  kind,  nature  and 
description,  to  Hilda  Nevius,  her  heirs,  execu- 
tors and  assigns  forever. 

"  The  druggist  is  below,  sir."  At  the  door 
stood  Patrick.  "  Shall  I  leave  the  prescription 
with  you?" 

"  Yes,  put  it  there.  Ask  him  up.  And,  Patrick, 
do  you  wait." 

A  moment,  and  Nevius  rose  in  greeting  of  a 
meager  man  in  a  frock  coat 

*'  Mr.  Asquith,  this  is  very  kind  of  you. 
Here  is  my  will.  Will  you  witness  it  for  me  ? 

"  Certainly,  anything  to  oblige." 

"  I  sign  it  then  in  your  presence.  Put  your 
signature  here,  please,  and  your  address.  Pat- 
rick, I  want  you  to  witness  it  too.  Thank  you 
both  very  much."  ^ 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  161 

"  Nothing  else,  Mr.  Nevius,  is  there?" 

No,  there  was  nothing,  and  presently  when 
he  was  alone  again  he  repeated  that  word  a 
little  sadly  to  himself. 

"  What  was  that  I  once  heard  Jones  say?"  he 
queried.  "  We  should  prolong  life,  not  death  ? 
That  is  it ;  and  this  is  death.  Well,  let  me  not 
prolong  it." 

Before  him  was  the  prescription;  opening  it 
he  filled  a  goblet  to  the  brim  and  tossed  it  off. 
How  good  it  was !  A  little  hot  to  the  throat, 
a  little  cloying  to  the  palate,  but  clean  to  the 
tongue,  fragrant,  too. 

On  the  mantel  lay  his  hat,  he  took  it  up 

and  seating  himself,  his  head  covered,  he  drew 

on  a  glove  and  buttoned  it.    But  why  were 

the  books,  the  yellow  shelves  of  law,  the  darker 

tomes  of  historv,  retreating-  throuo^h  that  little 

space  which  he  had  noticed  earlier  in  the  night  ? 

Before    he    could    account  for    anything  so 
1 1 


162  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

strange,  the  walls,  too,  had  retreated,  joy  and 
fear,  love  and  anguish,  all  had  gone  and  in 
their  stead  was  oblivion  and  rest  for  memory. 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


163 


XIII. 

"Imbecile  that  you  are  I  Don't  yon  know, 
Laven't  I  told  yon.  haven't  I  arch-told  yon 
that  nothiug  conld  canse  her  greater  joy?'' 

"  Bnt  what  a  reason!  Am  I  to  live  merely 
becanse  my  death  might  gratify  another?" 

"With  an  expression  that  was  both  fnrions 
and  induic^ent.  Jones  o^lowered  in  amicable 
rage. 

"And  truly,"  Xevius  added,  ■"I  don't  thank 
-any  of  you.'' 

Long  before  he  had  awaked,  conscious,  if  at 
all,  only  that  people  were  leaviug  the  room. 
Presently  he  had  recognized  Patrick ;  at  once 
the  episode  of  the  preyious  night  returned,  and 
with  it  the  perception  of  failure.  Later  he 
learned  that  Patrick,  attracted  by  his  breath- 


164  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

ing,  alarmed  at  his  attitude,  had  sent  for  a 
physician,  for  Jones  as  well.  The  physician 
had  been  the  first  to  arrive,  and  after  hours  of 
labor,  had  gone,  threatening  to  prosecute  the 
druggist. 

But  now,  three  days  later,  clothed  and  in  his 
right  mind  the  resurrected  sat  talking  with  his 
friend. 

"  No,"  Jones  answered.  "  That  would  be 
mediaeval.  I  mean  nothing  so  Hugoesque. 
But,  dear  boy,  you  have  no  right  to  leave  the 
planet  until  yon  have  shown  this  accusation  to 
be  as  false  as  you  and  I  know  it  to  be.  The 
bare  bodkin  may  be  simpler,  but  it  is  not  at  all 
chivalrous  to  leave  Miss  Adulam  in  the  plight 
she  is.  Can't  you  understand  that  if  this  ef- 
fort had  succeeded  even  her  own  mother  would 
have  believed  that  the  story  was  true?  No,  you 
must  live  for  the  reporters,  you  must  live  for 
your  wife,  and  meanwhile  get  a  verdict.  When 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  165 

you  have  got  that  kill  yourself  as  often  as  you 
like.  Yet  there  is  just  the  eccentricity  of  the 
whole  thing,  man  never  commits  suicide 
twice.  If  he  recovers  he  has  no  desire  to  re- 
peat the  experiment,  and  if  he  doesn't  that  is 
the  end  of  that.  But  don't  you  have  anything 
to  drink  in  this  house  ?" 

Oh,  yes.  Though  little  else  had  been  dis- 
coverable drink  there  was  in  plenty,  and  pres- 
ently, comforted  by  a  Scotch  and  soda,  the 
garrulous  novelist  ran  on : 

"But  whatever  possessed  you  to  do  a  thing 
of  that  sort  with  your  hai  on  ?  Do  you  know, 
that  is  v^^hat  we  call  a  document.  I  shall  have 
a  suicide  in  my  next  novel  merely  for  that  hat- 
I  would  give  the  whole  story,  for  that  matter, 
were  it  not  so  bald.  It  would  not  do  for  New 
York.  Here  the  reporter  can  be  as  pornograph 
as  the  Marquess  of  Sade,  if  he  knows  how,  and 
he  usually  does,  but  the  novelist  must  be  like 


166  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

Marguerite's  home,  chaste  and  pure.  We  are 
willing  enough  to  applaud  Tristan  and  Isolde, 
when  it  is  put  to  music  and  sung  in  a  language 
which  is  not  a  court-tongue.  But  beyond  that 
we  won't  go.  The  unbribable  Comstock  won't 
let  us.  But  even  apart  from  that,  I  couldn't 
handle  the  thing.  No  one  would  think  it  prob- 
able, and  to  my  reputation  for  realism  a  long 
farewell." 

The  novelist  looked  into  his  glass.  "It's  a 
good  subject  though.  A  deuced  good  subject. 
I  might  call  it,  let  me  see — I  might  call  it 
Bagatelles,  yes.  Bagatelles  or  One  of  the  Ten 
Commandments. 

"  Why  not  several  of  them  while  you  are 
about  it?" 

"Several  of  the  Ten  Commandments?" 
Why,  that  would  be  a  tip-top  title.  Take  in  all 
classes  of  readers.  Dear  boy,  if  you  don't 
object  I  think  I  will." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  167 

Nevius  jumped  from  liis  seat. 
If  you  say  one  word,"  lie  cried  hotly,  "  one 
word  that  a  microscopist  could  detect  as  re- 
ferring to  my  wife,  by  the  Lord  Harry  1*11  put 
daylight  through  you.' 

"  Dear  me ! "  mumbled  Jones,  "  how  was  I  to 
suppose  that  you  were  in  love  with  her  still  ?" 

At  that  you  should  have  heard  Nevius 
bluster.  How  he  ranted,  how  he  raved!  In 
love  with  her"?  The  idea!  Ko  indeed,  not  he. 
And  when  at  last  for  sheer  lack  of  breath  he 
stopped,  of  the  entire  diatribe  Jones  believed 
actually  not  one  word. 

But,  false  friend  that  he  was,  he  nodded  as 
though  he  did.  '  1 

"  That's  right,  that's  the  way  to  talk,  that's 
the  way  you  must  talk  to  O'Donnell.  We 
went  over  the  whole  matter  to-day.  He'll 
be  here  now  at  any  moment." 

And,  vatic  as  usual,  Mr.  Jabez  O'Donnell,  a 


168  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

member  of  the  bar,  still  young,  yet  already 
famous,  a  man  with  the  face  of  a  cherub  and" 
the  guile  of  a  fox,  was  promptly  announced. 

"  This,"  said  Jones,  as  the  lawyer  entered, 
*'this,  my  dear  O'Donnell,  is  my  friend  and 
brother  in  Christ,  Mr.  Carol  Nevius.  His  re- 
tainer will  be  large,  his  refreshers  abundant. 
Let  me  earnestly  commend  him  to  your  care." 

"Devil  a  bit  of  a  retainer  will  I  take;"  the 
gentleman  answered  with  great  cordiality  and 
a  little  brogue,  "I  am  out  for  gore,  not  for 
coin." 

*'  Bravely  said,"  cried  Jones,  glass  in  hand, 
toasting  the  occasion,  toasting  everything, 
toasting  illicit  commerce.  "You  are  pleased  to 
meet  Nevius,  I  know;  and  as  for  him,  he 
radiates  with  delight." 

And  at  the  way  Nevius  smiled,  any  one 
might  have  thought  that  really  he  was*  enjoying 
himself.    Yet,  how  curious  it  was  that  ths 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  169 

moment  the  smile  visited  his  lips,  a  verse  of 
Byron's  fluttered  there  too: 

"And  if  I  laugh  at  any  mortal  thing 
'Tib  that  I  may  not  weep:  and  if  I  weep 
'  Tis  that  our  nature  can  not  always  bring 
Itself  to  apathy." 

Poseur ! sneered  Jones,  in  an  indignant 
aside. 

Mr.  O'Donnell  seemed  to  appreciate,  "  I 
understand  you,  Mr.  Xevius.  I  understand  per- 
fectly. It  is  a  dreadful  thing  to  have  one's 
name  in  the  papers." 

''And  still  more  dreadful  not  to." 

This  interruption  came,  of  course,  from  the 
novelist.  Xo  one  paid  any  attention  to  him. 
The  lawyer  continued: 

''The  outrage  in  this  instance  is  heightened 
by  the  fact  that  there  need  have  been  no  pub- 
licity at  all.  Professional  etiquette,  if  nothing 
else,  should  have  prevented  Tooth  and  Tooth 


170  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

from  serving  you  by  publication.    Tliey  tell 
me  that  they  did  not  know  you  were  a  member 
of  the  bar,  and  as  their  acquaintance  is  limited 
to  those  who  practice  in  the  General  Sessions, 
that  is  a  thing  which  I  can  believe.   They  also 
tell  me  that  Mrs.  Nevius  represented  that  you 
would  not  return  to  this  country.    They  pre- 
tend to  be  vexed  at  the  mistake,  but  I  have 
reasons  for  thinking  that  they  regard  the  whole 
business  as  an  excellent  advertisement.  Now 
permit  me  to  ask  a  question.    What  sort  of  a 
man  is  your  father-in-law?   They  seemed  to 
have  been  employed   by  him  before.  One 
would  hardly  think  such  a  thing  possible,  but 
is  he  at  all  of  their  class  of  life?  " 

"  Between  the  man  who  pays  to  have  a  young 
girl  defamed  and  the  men  who  take  the  money 
and  do  the  job,"  Nevius  promptly  and  grimly 
replied,  "honors  are  easy." 

That  they  are,  Mr.  Nevius,  that  goes  with- 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  171 

out  saying.  But  if  I  ask,  it  is  because  from 
^vliat  Tooth  aud  Tooth  tell  me  he  is  not  so 
dogmatic  as  he  was  before  you  returned.  It 
appears  that  the  night  you  landed  he  nearly 
gave  up  the  ghost.'' 

"He  could  hare  had  no  interest  in  doing  so, 
however." 

"No,  precisely  not,  and  perhaps  for  that 
reason  he  didn't.  But  understand  me;  Jones 
says  that  the  plaintiff  is  not  to  be  argued  with, 
and  is  determined  to  push  the  thing  to  the  end. 
If  such  be  the  case,  there  is  no  use  losing 
time  with  her.  But  if  her  father  were  prop- 
erly approached,  might  not  something  be 
done?" 

"  Beyond  asking  him  to  play  pendulum  I 
see  nothing." 

The  lawyer  laughed.  "He  hasn't  inspired 
you  with  much  regard,  has  he?  " 

"Yes,"  Nevius  answered.     "Yes,  to  such 


172  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

an  extent  even  that  I  have  put  him  in  my  will. 
Mr.  Snaith  is  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Protection  of  Animals,  and  in  recognition  of 
his  affection  for  beasts,  I  have  left  him  a 
mirror." 

Jones,  rolled  over  in  spasms  of  delight. 
"  Oh!  Carol!  hoiv  I  wish  I  had  said  that! " 

In  unconscious  rememoration  of  the  famous 
retort  which  in  similar  circumstances  was  fired 
point  blank  at  another  man  of  letters,  Nevius 
turned  to  him  and  consolingly  answered; 
"There,  never  mind,  Alphabet.    You  wiliy 

Then  with  a  deprecatory  glance  at  the 
lawyer,  who  was  laughing  still,  he  prepared  to 
return  to  facts. 

"Forgive  me,  Mr.  O'Donnell.  My  levity 
is  out  of  place,  in  poor  taste  as  well  This  is 
tragedy,  not  farce.  You  will  believ^>  me  when 
I  say  that  nothing  is  further  from  my  mind 
than  a  desire  to  jest." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  173 

"I  follow  you  there.  I  know  quite  how  you 
feel.  Years  ago  a  man  called  on  a  physician ; 
*Iam  terribly  depressed,'  he  said.  *  I  want 
something  to  stir  me  up,'  'Go  and  see  Grim- 
aldi,'  the  physician  answered.  '  He  will  make 
you  laugh.'  '  I  am  Grimaldi,'  the  patient 
replied.  But  to  get  down  to  business  again. 
Tooth  and  Tooth  have  made  a  proposition,  one 
however  which  they  declare  is  made  entirely 
on  their  own  responsibility.  It  is  this.  They 
claim  to  have  all  the  evidence  they  require 
against  Miss  Adulam,  but  the  evidence  against 
Miss  Ytihrer,  while  equally  plentiful,  is  not,  to 
use  their  expression,  so  convenient.  Noav  they 
offer  to  withdraw  the  charge  against  Miss 
Adulam,  providing  that  you  will  supply  them, 
through  a  third  party  of  course,  with  a  few 
additional  facts  concerning  your  acquaintance 
with  Miss  Yiihrer.  This  proposition,  they 
wish  me  to  assure  you,  is  made  solely  out  of 


174:  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

deference  to  you.     What  shall  I  tell  them?" 

"What  shall  you  tell  them?"  repeated 
Nevius  wearily.  "  There  is  naturally  no  use 
in  telling  them  that  I  am  incapable  of  desert- 
ing the  helpless,  for  they  would  not  understand. 
But  tell  them  I  say  they  are  shysters,  that  the 
suit  may  be  withdrawn,  that  I  have  nothing  to 
gain  at  their  hands,  and  they  will  understand 
the  message  thoroughly." 

"  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes,"  the  un- 
crushable  Jones  threw  in.  "And  by  the  way, 
Carol,  Dona  Ferentes!  What  a  tip- top  name 
for  the  plaintiff!  " 

The  lawyer  nodded  to  his  client.  "  I  might 
have  expected  such  an  answer.  But  look  at  it 
in  this  light,  wouldn't  it  be  better — " 

"  There  can  be  no  better,"  Nevius  interrupt- 
ed. "  And  no  worse.  Miss  Adulam  is  a  young 
gentlewoman  whom  I  have  known  all  my  life. 
Could  I  in  any  way  sacrifice  myself  for  lier  I 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  175 

would  do  SO,  but  I  can  not  sacrifice  an  innocent 
girl,  nor,  pre- supposing  I  could,,  would  Miss 
Adulam  permit  me.  Of  Miss  Adulam's  justi- 
fication tliere  is  no  manner  of  doubt.  If  Tooth 
and  Tooth,  in  saying  that  they  have  all  the 
evidence  against  her  which  they  require,  speak 
truthfully,  they  have  been  imposed  upon,  pre. 
cisely  as  Mrs.  Nevius  has  been.  There  can  be  no 
evidence.  Not  a  charge  can  they  substantiate. 
They  may  have  perjury  at  command,  no  doubt 
they  have,  in  which  case  we  shall  know  how  to 
act  when  we  get  it  in  court.  As  for  Miss 
Ytihrer,  I  did  not  know  her  first  name,  nor  how 
her  last  was  written  until  I  saw  it  in  the  com- 
plaint. I  have  seen  her  but  four  times  in  my 
life.  I  never  knew  that  she  existed  until  Mrs. 
Nevius  brought  her  into  this  room.  Were  I  to 
act  as  Tooth  and  Tooth  suggest,  what  would  you 
think  of  me  ?  And  what  should  I  think  of  my- 
self?'" 


176  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

The  lawyer  took  a  long  breath  before  he 
spoke. 

"  They  have  got  something,  make  up  your 
mind  to  that,  though  whether  it  be  perjury  or 
not  I  can't  say.  But  they  intimate  they  are  in 
a  position  to  prove  a  confession  made  by  you 
to  Mrs.  Nevius  previous  to  your  departure." 

For  a  moment  Nevius  fumbled  in  a  drawer 
of  the  table. 

"Yes,  I  know,"  he  answered.  "I  read 
something  of  the  kind  in  the  papers.  But 
just  look  at  this.  "When  I  sailed  Mrs.  Nevius 
gave  me  a  list  of  things  which  she  wanted  me 
to  get  for  her  in  Paris.  This  morning  I  sent 
them  to  her.  Here  is  an  acknowledgment  from 
her  mother.  It  is  hardly  supposable,  is  it,  if  I 
left  Mrs.  Nevius  in  the  manner  which  Tooth 
and  Tooth  describe,  that  she  should  ask  me 
the  morning  I  sailed,  to  purchase  corsets, 
gloves  and  lingerie?" 


,  MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  177 

"  The  morning  yon  sailed?  ' 
"  Certainly." 

"And  this  list  is  in  her  handwriting?  " 
"It  is.'" 

"Why,  then,'"''  exclaimed  the  lawyer,  "they 
can  trot  ont  all  the  perjury  they  like.  That 
bit  o£  paper  stumps  them.  The  alleged  offences 
were  condoned." 

To  this  Nevius  assented  absently.  "  There 
must  be  no  such  plea  though.  The  denial  of 
the  allegations  is  all  that  is  required.  They 
can  never  prove  one." 

"No  doubt,  no  doubt."  And  the  lawyer 
rose  to  go.  "But  I  do  not  need  to  tell  you 
that  the  greatest  mistake  a  man  can  make  is  to 
underrate  his  adversary's  abilities." 

"  Unless  it  be,"  laughed  Jones,  "  to  over- 
rate his  own." 


14 


178 


MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 


XIV. 

Like  a  lethargic  snake  disturbed,  winter 
dragged  itself  away.  April  came,  and  with  it 
an  eager  glitter,  the  surprise  of  violets,  skies 
of  silk,  wadded  with  films  of  white  cotton,  all 
the  caresses  and  surrenders  of  spring. 

Upper  Fifth  avenue  was  well  in  the  move- 
ment, alive  with  smart  traps,  Piccadilly  ac- 
cents, gems  of  bonnets,  and  grooms,  the  arms 
folded,  impassible,  correct.  In  all  the  world 
prettier  women  there  are  not  than  in  that 
parade  which  circles  through  the  Park,  and 
descends  again  just  in  time  to  intercept  the 
dusk.    No,  nor  daintier  either. 

And  pretty  and  dainty  as  the  prettiest  and 
daintiest,  Mrs.  Carol  Nevius  looked  that  spring 
On  her  lips  was  the  pink  of  the  sea-shell,  and 


SAPPHIEA.  l79 

in  the  cleptlis  of  her  sultry  blue  eyes  the  faint- 
est petition  for  that  sympathy  Tvhich  imaginary 
wrongs  deserve.  Ah,  it  was  a  pleasure  to  see 
her= 

That  pleasure  was  not  enjoyed  by  her  hus- 
band. But  in  those  days  his  pleasures  were 
few.  TTomen,  whom  he  had  known  all  his 
life,  forgot  to  remember  him.  Men.  with  whom 
he  had  lived  on  terms  of  off-hand  familiarity, 
had  become  punctiliously  polite. 

These  things  were  nothing  in  comparison  to 
others.  The  letter  which  he  had  sent  rather 
blurred  to  his  wife  had  been  returned  through 
Tooth  and  Tooth,  with  the  intimation  that  he 
was  persecuting  her.  The  letter  which  he  had 
sent  to  Miss  Adulam  had  been  answered  by  her 
mother;  the  girl  was  lying  at  the  house  of  her 
uncle,  Erastus  TTilberforce,  too  ill  to  hold  a 
pen.  From  Tredegar  no  answer  came,  a  rumor 
merely  that  the  boy  was  drinking  himself  to 
death. 


180 


MADAM  SAPPHlRA. 


Then,  too,  the  divorce  required  in  such  haste  ^ 
that  service  by  publication  was  necessary,  lan- 
guished, moribund  and  mute.  And  not  at  all 
because  of  the  calendar.  On  motion  it  could 
have  gone  before  a  referee  at  once.  But  the 
Snaiths  had  other  matters  to  attend  to,  though 
a  girl  was  dying  because  of  them,  and  a  lad  was 
throwing  his  life  away. 

Nevius  ceased  to  be  seen.  His  office  v/as 
closed.  The  Canal  Company,  with  perfect 
civility,  dispensed  with  his  services;  other  cor- 
porations for  whom  he  had  acted  withdrew 
their  business  from  his  hands.  That  Mr. 
Snaith  had  been  at  work  he  understood,  but  it 
was  long  before  he  understood  that  that  gen- 
tleman's object  was  to  attack  the  sinews  of  war, 
and  thereby,  the  law's  delays  continuing,  to 
force  him  to  capitulate.  When  the  understand  - 
ing did  come  to  him,  he  reflected  with  some 
satisfaction  that  while  skies  were  still  fair  he 
had  cut  that  gentleman  in  the  street. 


MADAM  SAPPHircA.  181 

Meanwhile,  lie  stalked,  iincompanioned, 
throuofh  the  untellable  loneliness  of  that 
ghastly  house,  seeking  a  clue  to  the  mystery 
that  was  devastating  three  li\es. 

That  Hilda  had  cared  for  him  he  had  to  be- 
lieve, or  else  to  regard  her  as  an  actress  more 
consummate  even  than  Eachel.  For  where  t^^s 
the  actress  who  could  assume  a  rol@  and  hold 
it,  impeccably,  not  for  a  season  alone,  not  so 
many  nights  a  week,  but  every  minute  of  seven 
years?  That  she  knew  her  accusations  to  be 
false  he  was  now  convinced.  TTith  these  for 
premises  what  conclusion  could  he  draw?  It 
could  not  be  that  after  years  of  tenderness  she 
had  left  him,  because  there  were  moments  when 
he  was  irritable  and  perverse.  ISo,  surely  that 
was  not  the  cause.  !Nor  could  it  be  that  she 
had  left  him  because  her  father  had  threatened 
disinheritance.  Judas,  indeed,  had  been  bribed, 
yet,  while  in  the  present  instance  the  bribe  was 


182 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


greater,  still,  though  times  had  changed  and 
living  become  more  expensive,  Nevius  was 
unable  to  accept  any  solution  such  as  that. 
Beside,  not  being  a  bit  more  heroic  than  the  rest 
of  us,  a  conclusion  of  that  kind  diminished  him 
in  his  own  esteem. 

In  the  night  of  his  perplexity  a  single  ray 
had  come.  Jones  had  enjo,yed  a  second  conver- 
sation with  this  lady,  in  which  Mrs.  Nevius, 
after  stating  that  the  man  whose  name  she  had 
taken,  was  heedless  beyond  the  power  of  words, 
that  he  had  constantly  borrowed  her  button- 
hook, added,  by  way  of  summing  up,  that  she 
had  married  him  uniquely  to  go  into  society, 
and  as  he  had  refused  to  take  her,  he  should 
bear  the  consequences  without  complaint. 

That  was  the  ray  of  light,  tremulous  and 
thin  no  doubt,  but  which,  by  reason  of  the 
darkness  in  which  he  groped,  led  him  ulti- 
^i^tely  to  what  he  regarded  9,^  the  day.  As 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  183 

steppiDg-stones  lie  had  two  facts,  one  patho- 
logical, the  other  psychological.  The  patho- 
logical fact  was  this:  Women  who  at  recur- 
rent intervals  suffer  greatly,  are  afflicted  not 
only  physically,  but  mentally  as  well.  Their 
minds  become  the  haunt  of  vagaries,  of  illu- 
sions, sometimes  of  madness,  too.  For  these 
sufferings,  for  these  vagaries  and  illusions, 
there  is  but  one  cure,  one  to  which  nature 
prompts  —  motherhood.  The  psychological 
fact  hung  like  a  corollary  to  the  first.  When 
a  woman  has  lived  seven  years  with  a  man  and 
borne  him  no  child,  unintentionally  it  may  be, 
yet  instinctively  that  man  she  hates. 

At  the  intervals  alluded  to,  Hilda,  he  was 
aware,  had  suffered  for  days  with  an  intensity 
of  agony  which  was  pitiful  to  behold.  More- 
over, as  the  years  accumulated,  the  union  had 
remained  unblessed.  Such  maternal  affection 
as  she  possessed  had  been  given  to  him,  to 


184  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

the  cat;  but  Nature,  who  is  not  to  be  balked, 
was  there  and  watching,  and  this  was  the 
revenge. 

Such  was  the  solution  to  which  at  last  he  ar- 
rived. The  accusations  which  she  had  made 
had  been  hatched  in  the  distemper  of  her 
brain,  and  the  venomous  hatred  which  she  had 
abruptly  displayed  was  but  the  working  of  a 
natural  law. 

Logical  as  it  was,  this  solution  did  not  by 
any  means  come  at  once.  Winter  had  gone, 
spring  was  going,  and  still  he  groped  until, 
aided  by  the  ray  which  Jones  had  intercepted, 
suddenly  he  divined  the  truth.  She  is  in- 
sane, he  decided,  and  told  himself  that  of  that 
insanity  he  would  cure  her  yet. 

Thenceforth  he  had  that  for  an  aim.  What 
loyalty,  what  gentleness,  what  divine  courtesy 
and  affection  had  not  an  English  gentleman  just 
displayed  to  a  woman  who  had  forever  dis- 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  185 

graced  him,  who  stood,  the  whole  worki  looking 
on,  a  convicted  felon  at  the  dock  ?  And  should 
he,  Carol  Neyius,  be  other  than  loyal,  courteous 
and  gentle  too?  The  malady  which  had 
prompted  that  fair  English  girl  to  steal  was 
the  same,  no  doubt,  as  that  which  had 
prompted  his  wife  to  libel.  And  when  at  last 
the  prison  door  re-opened,  was  not  that  En- 
glish gentleman  there  waiting  to  take  his  wife 
in  his  arms  and  carry  her  off  to  where  health 
and  sanity  might  be.  And  when  this  trial  was 
at  an  end  should  not  he,  too,  take  his  wife  in  his 
arms  and  carry  her  thence  and  nurse  and 
guard  her  until  reason  returned  and  love  as 
well?  Ah,  indeed  he  would.  The  cases  were 
not  parallel,  but  if  it  comforted  him  to  think  so, 
let  that  comfort  be  not  begrudged. 

In  this  wise  months  retreated,  but  with  June, 
presto  !  a  change.  Enervated  by  the  delay, 
possessed,  perhaps,  of  a  clearer  understanding 


186  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

of  resources  and  temperaments,  Mrs.  Nevius, 
in  spite  of  her  father  and  his  policy,  goaded 
her  attorneys  into  asking  that  the  matter  be 
bronght  before  a  referee. 

The  day  on  which  that  motion  Avas  asked 
and  granted,  a  curious  episode  occurred.  Mr. 
O'Donnell  was  offered  by  an  individual  whom 
previously  he  had  never  seen,  ten  thousand 
dollars  in  current  coin  if  he  would  agree  to  let 
the  suit  go  against  his  client,  ten  thousand 
more  if  he  carried  out  the  agreement. 

"  It  is  not  enough,"  was  O'Donnell's  reply. 

On  the  morrow  the  offer  was  doubled,  and  on 
the  morrow  the  reply  was  the  same, 


MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 


187 


The  day  was  hot  and  liumid.  In  Upper 
Fifth  ayenue  green  blinds  were  dowm,  and 
grey  doors  were  np.  In  the  Park  there  were 
still  carriages,  but  latterly  smartness  had  been 
confined  the  traps  of  the  cocottes,  the  ethers 
had  livery  stables  without,  the  provinces  with- 
in. Society  had  vanished  to  cool  retreats,  to 
country  houses,  and  distant  shores.  In  Wall 
street  the  chief  change  was  the  disappearance 
of  the  high  hat,  the  frequency  of  straw.  Men 
walked  more  leisurely,  too,  fanning  themselves, 
choosing  the  shadows;  some  were  un waist- 
coated,  and  some  wore  handkerchiefs  about 
the  neck. 

But  that  little  lady  with  a  waist  that  would 
fit  in  a  garter,  and  who,  merely  in  stepping 


188 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


from  her  carriage,  pervaded  the  Nassau  corner 
with  aromas  of  the  Eue  de  la  Paix,  she  surely 
should  be  at  Newport.  And  that  obese  little 
man  with  the  look  of  one  to  whom  Truth  is 
always  stranger  than  Fiction,  what  was  he  doing 
at  her  side?    Surely  he  belonged  on  the  box. 

And  who  were  these  females  in  clothes  not 
made  for  them  who  had  just  got  from  a  cab? 
Surely  they  were  detectives,  and  their  duty  to 
protect  the  little  lady  from  the  machinations 
of  that  unliveried  lackey  at  her  side. 

And  who,  too,  was  this  ponderous  person  that 
was  now  addressing  them  all.  Why  had  he 
such  a  terrible  twang  ?  And  why,  as  he  spoke, 
did  his  words  sound  like  wind  escaping  from  a 
bladder  inflated? 

Mystery  to  all  but  one  that  passed  that  way. 
And  he,  though  it  was  hot  and  humid,  at  sight 
of  them  grew  cold.  To  the  lady  he  raised  his 
hat,  and  passing  into  the  building  before  which 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  189 

this  disparate  group  was  assembled,  liad,  him- 
self, shot  like  a  rocket  five  stories  high  ai  d 
landed  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  John  Met- 
uchen,  appointed  by  the  court  referee  in  the 
case  of  Nevius  versus  Nevius. 

There  was  O'Donnell,  and  there,  talking  to 
him,  was  a  white-haired  gentleman  with  a 
patrician  bearing  to  whom  the  intruder  was  in- 
troduced. 

"Mr.  Metuchen,  permit  me,  this  is  my 
client,  Mr.  Nevius." 

"Your  most  obedient  servant,  sir,"  mur- 
mured that  courtly  old  man.  Thereat  lawyer 
and  client  passed  into  an  inner  room. 

Nevius  dropped  in  a  chair.  "They're  be- 
low," he  mumbled.  "But  what  has  she  come 
for?    She  can't  testify." 

"  To  the  fact  of  the  marriage,  she  must,  and 
that  there  has  been  no  previous  application. 
But  that  done,  presumably  she  will  go." 

"  I  did  not  expect^ — ^' 


190  MADAM  SAPPHIM. 

The  sentence  was  never  finislied.  Mrs. 
Carol  had  entered,  and  at  sight  of  her  the 
defendant  grew  mute.  But  he  rose  from  his 
seat,  reseating  himself  only  when  that  ponder- 
ous person  who  followed  had  found  her  a  chair. 
Immediately,  Mr.  Metuchen  appeared.  Then 
a  man  with  paper  and  pencils,  then  two  fe- 
males, escorted  by  Mr.  Snaith. 

The  room  was  large,  high-ceiled,  yet  to  Nev- 
ius  it  seemed  very  small.  O'Donnell  and  he 
were  at  the  end  of  a  long  table,  at  the  other 
end  of  which  Mr.  Metuchen  sat  down.  On  the 
inner  side  was  the  stenographer.  And  beyond, 
at  the  window,  the  others  had  taken  seat,  all, 
in  fact,  save  the  ponderous  person,  who  seemed 
inclined  to  stand  and  domineer. 

He  was  saying  something,  but  what  ?  Nev- 
ius  neither  knew  nor  cared ;  he  was  watching 
his  wife  who  presently,  with  that  air  and  man- 
ner he  loved  so  well,  advanced  a  little  and  be- 


MADA3I  SAPPHIEA.  191 

D'au  to  tell  about  one  or  two  tliiusfs  which  no 
one  questioned.  Then  the  business  of  the 
hearino'  seemed  about  to  beo-in. 

"Just  bring  your  chair  a  little  nearer, 
Becky." 

Becky?  Who  was  Becky?  But  as  one  of 
the  females  tilted  her  eeat,  Xevius  recognized 
the  Eebecca  of  old.  But  to  what  was  she  to 
testify? 

Xow  Becky,"  twanged  jhe  ponderous  per- 
son, "  what  is  your  name?  Eebecca  Hawes ? 
Tery  good.  And  how  old  are  you,  Becky? 
Yery  good.  Haye  you  eyer  seen  this  lady  be- 
fore? Oho!  yoivye  liyed  Avitli  her,  haye  yon? 
In  what  capacity?  As  waitress,  eh?  And 
haye  you  eyer  seen  that  gentleman?  xlha! 
He  is  Mr.  Xeyius.  is  he?  Xow  Becky,  what 
were  your  duties  as  waitress?  To  wait  at 
table  ?  To  serye  at  meals  ?  Tery  good,  yery 
good.    And  what  else?    You   answered  the 


192  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

door,  did  you?  Alia!  You  answered  the  door! 
Now,  Becky,  in  answering  the  door,  in  waiting 
on  the  table,  did  you  ever  see  any  one  by  the 
name  o£  Janet  Adul am?  Oh,  you  have,  have 
you?  Often?  Very  often,  eh?  Very  good, 
Becky,  very  good.  Ever  heard  Mrs.  Nevius 
say  anything  about  her?" 

"Ject,"  snapped  O'Donnell. 

"  Well,  Counsellor,"  the  ponderous  man 
with  great  afiPability  retorted,  "  we  won't 
quarrel  over  a  little  thing  like  that;  I'll  get  at 
it  in  another  way." 

"Now,  Becky,"  he  continued,  "Mrs.  Nevius, 
so  far  as  you  could  see,  treated  this  Adulam 
girl  like  a  friend,  didn't  she — " 

Nevius  raised  a  hand. 

"  I  submit,  your  Honor,  that  the  attorney 
should  not  be  permitted  to  refer  to  this  young 
gentlewoman  in  the  manner  which  he  has 
done." 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  19? 

The  referee  looked  up. 

^'  I  think,  Mr.  Tooth,  that  Mr.  Nevius  is  per- 
haps right — " 

"  Oh!  oh!  "  the  man  protested,  "  that's  only 
my  way." 

"  The  way  of  a  cad,"  muttered  Nevius. 

But  the  attorney,  accustomed  since  boyhood 
to  being  so  described,  caught  up  the  thread 
unruffled. 

"  Xow,  Becky,  am  I  to  understand  that  you 
regarded  this  Miss  Adulam  as  a  friend  of  Mrs. 
Xevius?  I  am,  am  I?  And  why  am  I?  Be- 
cause she  was  always  coming  there,  eh?  Well, 
cominof  where?  Oho!  to  the  Xevius  house!  I 
see,  I  see.  But  you  say  she  was  always  coming 
there.  You  don't  mean  that  she  liked  it  so 
mucli  that  she  used  to  come  when  Mrs.  Nevius 
wasn't  at  home?  Oho,  you  do,  do  you?  Well, 
now,  Becky,  do  you  remember  any  particular 
occasion  that  she  came  when  Mrs.  Nevius  was 

13 


194  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

not  at  home?    Lots   of  them?    Why,  what 
could  she  do  there  in  Mrs.  Nevius'  absence? 
Be  kissed  by  Mr.  Nevius!  Do  you  mean  to  say 
that  you  saw  Mr.  Nevius  kissing  her?  What, 
you  have  seen  them  in  each  other's  arms !  You 
saw  them  ?  you  positively  swear  that  you  saw 
them  ?    Yery  good,  Becky,  very  good.  Now, 
what  else  did  they  do?    Ate  and  drank,  did 
they  ?  Well,  while  they  were  eating  and  drink- 
ing what  did  they  talk  about?  You  don't  know? 
Don*t  you  remember  ?    Oh,  you  didn't  under^ 
stand,  eh?    And  why  not?    Did  they  talk  in 
whispers  so  that  you  couldn't  hear?  Oho! 
They   talked   in  Spanish,  did  they?    Or  in 
Italian!  Any  way  they  talked  in  some  lingo  you 
didn't  understand.    Now,  then,  Becky,  when 
Mis.  Nevius  was  at  home,  you  have  heard  Mr. 
Nevius  talking  to  her,  haven't  you?    Well  tell 
us  then  what  language  he  talked  to  her  in  ?  In 
English  did  he  ?    No  Italian  f olderols  to  his 


MADAM  SAPPHTEA.  195 

wife,  eh?  Only  to  Miss  Aclulam,  eli?  Tery 
good,  Becky,  yery  good  indeed.  Xow,  wlien 
Mrs.  Xeyins  yas  at  home  where  did  she  sit  at 
table?  At  the  head  of  it,  eh?  Xnd  where  did 
Mr.  Xeyiiis  sit?  At  the  foot,  did  he?  Well, 
when  this  carousing  was  going  on,  where  did 
Miss  Adulam  sit  ?  At  the  head  of  the  table,  too  ? 
Took  the  wife's  place,  eh?  And  where  did  Mr. 
Neyins  sit?  Eight  beside  her!  TVhj,  I  thought 
you  said  he  sat  at  the  foot  of  the  table!  Oho! 
he  only  sat  at  the  foot  of  the  table  when  his 
wife  was  there!  I  see.  But  when  Miss 
Adulam  came  he  moyed  his  seat,  eh?  Sat 
close  to  her,  I  suppose.  Well,  how  close? 
Close  enough,  you  say.  And  while  they  were 
sitting  as  close  as  they  could  get,  they  talked 
in  a  language  you  couldn't  understand,  did 
they?  Xow,  when  you  had  finished  clearing 
up  in  the  dining-room  where  did  you  go? 
Down  stairs,  eh  ?    And  when  did  you  come  up 


196  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

again?  Two  or  three  hours  later,  eh?  Now, 
what  had  Miss  Adulam  and  Mr.  Nevius  been 
doing  in  the  meantime  ?  You  don't  know,  you 
say,  but  when,  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  hours, 
you  came  up  stairs  again,  you  found  them  in 
each  other's  arms.  Is  that  what  I  am  to 
understand  ?  Yery  good.  Now  when  did  this 
occur  ?  On  the  10th  of  November,  eh  ?  And 
was  anything  of  the  kind  repeated?  On  the 
11th,  eh?  And  on  the  12th,  and  on  the  14th? 
Did  you  tell  any  one  of  these  goings  on  ?  Oh, 
you  told  Mrs.  Nevius!  What  did  she  do?  She 
accused  her  husband,  did  she?  And  what  did 
he  do?  He  confessed,  eh?  Confessed  what? 
Confessed  that  he  had  been  untrue,  eh  ?  Then 
tvhat?  Mr.  Nevius  went  abroad  did  he? 
And  what  did  Mrs.  Nevius  do?  Packed  up 
and  left  Mr.  Nevius'  house,  eh  ?  Has  she  seen 
Mr.  Nevius  since?  Hasn't,  eh?  Very  good, 
Becky;  that  will  do  for  to-day." 


MADAM   SAPPHHiA.  197 

And  with  an  air  of  satisfaction  that  would 
have  been  unpardonable  in  Xapoleon  at  Ma- 
rengo, Mr.  Tootli  caressed  liis  cliin  witli  one 
hand  and  waved  the  other  at  O'DonnelL 

"  Brother  0"D,  if  you  have  any  ques- 
tions— 

"  I  have,*^  0"Donnell  answered  shortly. 
"  Hawes,  look  this  way.  AVhere  are  you  lix- 
ing  now?" 

"At  Mr.  Snaith"s." 

"In  what  capacity?" 

"  Er — er — "  The  woman  turned  helplessly 
about,  and  suddenly  spat,  Scanisfress.^'^ 

"  Mr.  Eeferee,*"  said  0"Donnell,  "  I  beg  you 
to  remind  Mrs.  Xevius  that  she  is  not  permit- 
ted to  prompt  the  witness.  Hawes,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  look  at  me.  How  do  you  remember 
the  dates  you  haA'e  giyen?" 

The  witness  made  no  answer. 

"  Come,  out  with  it." 


198  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

"  I — I — I  wrote  them  down  each  time  Miss 
Adulam  came." 

''With  what  object?" 
"Mrs.  Snaith  told  me  to." 
"When  did  she  tell  you?" 
"  I  don't  remember." 

"  Then  you  have  got  to  remember.  Did  Mrs. 
Snaith  tell  you  to  keep  a  memorandum  before 
Miss  Adulam  began  to  come  to  the  house  or 
afterward  ?" 

"Afterward,  sir." 

"Do  you  swear  to  that?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  I  thought  you  said  you  wrote  the  dates 
down  each  time  Miss  Adulam  came." 

"  So  I  did,  sir." 

"Why  did  you?" 

"  Because  Mrs.  Snaith  told  me." 

"A  moment  ago  you  said  that  Mrs.  Snaith 
did  not  tell  you  to  do  so  until  afterward.  Now, 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  199 

look  at  me,  which  is  it?  Did  she  tell  you  be- 
fore or  after  ?" 
"  Before." 

"Do  you  swear  to  that?" 
"Yes,  sir." 

"  Do  you  know  what  the  penalty  for  perjury 
is?" 

"  I  object,"  threw  in  Mr.  Tooth  airily. 

O'Donnell  turned  to  Metuchen:  "Here's  a 
witness,  your  Honor,  who  swears  to  two  con- 
tradictory statements,  and  as  they  are  material 
to—" 

'They  are  not  material,"  retorted  Mr. 
Tooth.  "Mrs.  Snaith  has  nothing  to  do  with 
this  suit.  I  have  shown  that  Miss  Adulam 
called  on  the  defendant  in  the  plaintiff's  ab- 
sence. I  have  also  shown  what  occurred. 
When  Mrs.  Snaith  learned  the  facts  is  irrele- 
vant— " 

"But  not  obscure,"  answered  O'Donnell; 


200  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

"  Mr.  stenographer,  vv^hen  does  witness  swear 
Mrs.  Snaitli  instructed  ber  to  take  notes.  Be- 
fore Miss  Adulam  called?  Thank  you." 

"Now,  Hawes,"  he  continued.  "Besides 
keeping  a  memorandum  for  Mrs.  Snaith,  to 
whom  did  you  mention  these  incidents?" 

"  To  Mrs.  Nevius,  sir." 

"When?" 

"  When  she  returned  home,  sir." 
"When  was  that?" 
"A  few  days  later." 

"That  must  have  been  about  the  16th  or 
17th  of  November,  wasn't  it?" 
"Yes,  sir." 

"When  did  Mr.  Nevius  go  abroad?" 
"Some  time  in  December." 
"Were  you  present  when  Mrs.  Nevius  ac- 
cused her  husband  of  being  untrue?" 
"No,  but—" 

"  I  want  no  buts.    Answer  yes  or  no.  Did 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  201 

you  hear  liim  admit  the  accusation?" 
"  Well —he— " 

"  xlnswer  my  question.  Did  you  or  did  not 
you?" 

"No,  sir,  I  didn't,  I—" 

"  That's  enough.  Of  what  was  the  parlor 
floor  composed?" 

"  0£  the  dining-room,  parlor  and  butler's 
pantry." 

"  On  the  first  occasion  when  Miss  Adulam 
called  do  you  know  of  her  being  in  any  other 
part  of  the  house  than  on  the  parlor  floor?" 

"No,  sir." 

Can  you  on  any  of  the  subsequent  occa- 
sions swear  that  she  was  in  any  other  part  of 
the  house?" 
"No,  sir." 

"Very  good,  Becky,  that  will  do  for  this 
afternoon." 

Mr.  O'Donnell  turned  to  his  client,  and  with 


202 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


the  air  of  one  commenting  on  the  weather  re- 
marked audibly  yet  indifferently:  "  Chops 
and  tomato  sauce!" 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


203 


XVI. 

Day  in,  day  out,  the  testimony  continued. 
Tlie  cook  testified.  The  waitress  recalled,  tes- 
tified anew.  The  cook  testified  again,  and  a 
t'hird  time  the  waitress  took  the  stand.  By 
common  consent  objections  ceased.  Questions 
inane,  idiotic,  indecent,  passed  unchallenged, 
unrebuked. 

Neyius  ceased  to  attend.  The  coarseness 
was  disgusting  enough,  but  apart  from  that 
the  presence  of  one  who  continued  to  come  per- 
plexed and  tormented  him.  To  those  who 
have  agreed  to  be  bound  by  form,  no  law  ever 
codified  is  rigider,  and  but  for  its  shackles,  at 
the  first  hearing  he  would  have  called  to  her, 
"Hilda,  this  is  unworthy  of  you;  let  us  go." 
But  no  remonstrance  being  possible,  it  was 


204 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


easier  to  avoid  that  chamber  where  she  list- 
ened exultingly  to  each  fresh  batch  of  scurrili- 
ties concerning  himself. 

For  the  exultation  was  there,  one  not  dissim- 
ilar to  that  which  that  vestal  must  have  dis- 
played when  her  lover  the  gladiator  fell  and 
her  delicate  thumb  reversed.  It  was  this  that 
unnerved  him.  He  had  fathomed  the  cause, 
but  the  effect  he  was  unable  to  endure.  But 
soon  the  exultation,  the  scurrilities  must  end, 
and  then  in  what  gentle  ways  would  he  woo 
her  back  to  sanity  and  herself. 

O'Donnell  was  not  so  sanguine.  "  They 
have  got  something,"  he  would  insist,  *'  or  else 
Tooth  is  milking  his  client.  He  consumes 
hours  over  nothing.  Yesterday  we  learned 
what  you  preferred  for  breakfast.  The  fact 
that  you  drank  moselle  for  dinner  was  shown 
to  the  satisfaction  of  every  one,  the  stenogra- 
pher included.    Metuchen  went  into  the  other 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  205 

room;  I  read  a  paper.  No  one  listened  except 
the  plaintiff,  and,  by  the  ^-ay,  did  you  tell  me 
that  she  was  pretty?  Why,  she  is  hideous; 
never  in  all  my  life  hare  I  seen  a  woman  with 
an  expression  as  malignant  as  hers." 

Souvent  femme  varie,''  Nevius  inconse- 
quently  replied. 

"You  are  well  rid  of  her.  And  the  way  she 
bullies  Tooth!  Were  she  a  client  of  mine — 
however,  that's  not  the  point.  Tooth  must 
have  something  else.  Thus  far  the  testimony 
of  the  servants  has  the  value  of  a  zero  from 
which  the  periphery  has  been  eliminated. 
But  even  otherwise  the  testimony  of  detectives 
is  valueless  unless  corroborated.  Tooth  knows 
that,  and  he  knows,  too,  that  I  can  show  the 
servants  to  have  been  in  the  pay  of  Mrs. 
Snaith.  Now  who  is  to  corroborate  them,  for, 
mark  my  words,  some  corroboration  there  will 
be.    Tooth  is  waiting  for  something,  he  is 


206  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

consuming  time  with  no  other  object.  Now 
what  is  it?" 

"  There  is  nothing.  You  have  heard  all  you 
will  ever  hear." 

But  O'Donnell  was  skeptical  as  a  rag-picker, 
and  with  cause.  When  he  next  appeared  in 
Tenth  street  the  I-told-you-so  was  in  his  eye. 

"We  are  sailing  very  close  to  the  wind,"  he 
announced.  "  What  do  you  suppose  happened 
to-day?" 

Nevius  was  not  good  at  conundrums  and 
said  so. 

*'  Your  friend  Miss  Vtihrer  appeared,"  the 
lawyer,  with  a  great  assumption  of  indifference, 
remarked,  and  then  stopped  to  enjoy  his 
client's  surprise. 

"  Did  she?  "  that  client  answered,  but  with 
an  apathy  that  was  stagnant.  "I  had  for- 
gotten that  she  lived." 

*'  I  had  not,  then.    Though  I  admit  I  was 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  207 

not  prepared  for  what  occurred.  Yesterday 
Tooth  began  with  the  waitress  about  her, 
showed  that  you  were  closeted  with  her  for 
hours  and  exhibited  a  hair-pin  which  was 
found  on  that  sofa  where  you  are  sitting  now. 
I  had  so  little  difficulty  in  putting  that  hair-pin 
straight  back  into  Mrs.  N-eyius'  hair  that  even 
Metuchen  laughed." 
"Well?" 

"  Well,  that  was  merely  the  prelude.  This 
morning  she  appeared,  as  Jones  would  say,  iii 
improprid  j)ersonci.  No,  Nevius,  she  is  worse 
than  Becky,  though,  after  all,  she  must  get 
higher  pay.  With  her  was  counsel,  if  you 
please,  retained,  of  course,  by  Tooth.  Pennell 
his  name  is,  B.  F.  Pennell.  When  I  saw  him 
I  knew  that  the  surprise  was  at  hand.  He  is 
a  bad  egg,  but  rottener  than  I  had  believed. 
Do  you  know,  the  plaintiff  is  very  clever.  It 
was  she,  I  will  take  my  oath,  who  put  Tooth  up 
to  it." 


208  MADAM  SAPPHIRA 

The  apathy  which  Nevius  had  displayed  was 
departing,  he  came  nearer  to  O'Donnell  and 
stood,  looking  at  him,  impatient  of  details  and 
phrases.  Was  the  diagnosis  wrong,  after  all? 
Was  there  another  explanation  of  this  mystery  ? 
Only  the  day  before  he  had  asked  himself  that 
question.  And  now  what  was  the  cleverness 
over  which  O'Donnell  seemed  inclined  to 
harp?" 

"  Tooth  is  fly  enough,"  the  lawyer  was  say- 
ing," but  unaided  he  would  never  have  thought 
of  this.  Pennell  got  the  young  woman  on  the 
stand,  and  in  no  time  at  all  had  her  white  as 
snow.  He  had  her  take  off  her  bonnet  and  show 
that  in  those  blonde  curls  of  hers  there  was  not 
a  hair-pin  to  be  found,  he  had  her  explain  at 
some  length  that  while  her  relations  with  you 
had  been  most  friendly  and  pleasant,  they  had 
been  also  entirely  innocent  and  that  you  had 
invariably  treated  her  like  what  she  called  "  a 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  209 

perfect  gentleman."    Then  he  turned  her  over 
to  Tooth." 
"Well?" 

"Tooth  began  very  greasily;  he  asked  her  a 
few  gentle  little  questions  which  gave  her  an 
opportunity  to  repeat  all  she  had  said,  and 
finally  brought  out  that  a  few  months  ago  you 
had  met  her  in  the  street  and  had  assured  her 
you  were  doing  everything  to  serve  her  inter- 
ests. Very  nice  as  far  it  goes,  isn't  it?  Wait 
a  bit.  '  And  what  did  you  say  to  Mr.  Nevius  ?' 
Tooth  asked.  'I  asked  Mr.  Nevius,'  the  little 
beast  answered,  '  whether  the  other  young  lady 
was  as  innocent  as  I  Avas  ?'  '  And  what  was 
Mr.  Nevius'  reply  ?'  Tooth  inquired.  '  Mr. 
Nevius'  reply  was  that  unfortunately  she  was 
not. " 

"That  she  was  not?-'  gnashed  Nevma 

"That  is  what  she  swore.'*' 

"  Then  to  the  Tombs  ohe  go(^s/* 
14 


210  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

"There,  it's  only  your  word  against  hers. 
You  can  do  nothing." 

"  But  something  must  be  done." 

"  Precisely,  and  for  that  purpose  I  have  got 
an  adjournment.  Now  where  is  Miss  Adulam? 
She  must  appear.  There  is  no  use  in  her 
standing  on  her  dignity  any  longer.  "Where  is 
•  she?" 

"In  Boston,"  Nevius  answered.  "And  she 
is  ill." 

"  Though  she  come  on  a  shutter,  come  she 
must.  Write  her  the  facts,  tell  her  the  moment 
she  arrives  to  communicate  with  me,  but  write 
to  her  at  once."    With  that  the  lawyer  left. 

For  an  hour  Nevius  sat,  uncertain  how  to 
act.  He  tried  to  write  and  did,  page  after 
page,  but  the  point  he  was  unable  to  reach.  No 
matter  what  circumlocutions  he  attempted,  no 
matter  how  delicate  the  shadings,  the  fact 
stood  out,  bald  and  repugnant,  that  the  accusa- 


MADAM  SAPPEIRA.  211 

tion  must  stand  unless  rebutted  by  herself.  And 
there  had  been  his  pride,  could  pride  there  be 
where  only  shamelessness  was,  that  this  young 
gentlewomen  had  answered  the  accusation  in  the 
only  manner  which  it  deserved,  by  making  no 
answer  at  all.  How  was  he  to  tell  her  to  unseal 
her  unsullied  lips?  Though  he  used  argu- 
ments that  might  lure  a  saint  from  Paradise, 
the  abomination  would  still  be  there,  he  was 
asking  her  to  be  cross-questioned  in  regard  to 
her  honor  by  a  man  such  as  his  wife  had 
employed.  No,  he  could  not.  Better  a  thou- 
sand times  the  divorce  than  that  ineffaceable 
indignity  to  her.  Something  else  there  must 
be.  But  what?  As  a  child  who  plays  a  game, 
he  felt  that  something  burning  yet  still  with- 
held.   And  suddenly  it  was  his. 

The  letter  which  he  presently  wrote  was  not, 
however,  for  Miss  Adulam,  it  was  addressed  to 
her  uncle,  Erastus  Wilberforce.    And  as  it  lay 


212  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

signed  and  sealed  before  him,  he  covered  his 
face  with  his  handj.  When  he  stood  up,  an 
illusion  had  unmasked,  he  had  looked  in  his 
heart,  it  was  empty. 

The  morrow  was  blank.  Another  day  went 
by,  during  which  he  wandered  through  that 
dismal  house  from  which  even  a  ghost  had  fled. 
At  noon,  on  the  third  day,  a  wire  came: 

Victory!    Will  be  with  you  at  nine. 

"J.  O'DONNELL." 

The  message  left  him  strangely  unmoved, 
though  one  may  wonder  whether  spring  is 
sweeter  than  summer  to  a  flower  once  dead. 
Punctual  as  a  comet,  the  lawyer  appeared. 
"  Look  at  that ! "  he  exclaimed.  *'  You  told  me 
that  Miss  Adulam  was  a  thoroughbred,  but  you 
didn't  tell  me  she  was  another  Lady  Flora 
Hastings  too." 

At  the  paper  he  extended  Nevius  glanced 
and  shuddered.     It  was  a  certificate,  attested 


MADA^f  SAPPHIRA.  213 

by  two  physicians  that  Miss  J anet  Aclulam  was 
virgo  iniacia. 

"  Why,  Nevius,  it  is  the  Hastings  affair  over 
again.  It  will  turn  Tooth  inside  out.  Out- 
witted, foiled,  cornered,  undone  is  that  unholy 
shyster.  Farewell  to  the  Xevius  divorce! 
And  I  may  tell  you  Metuchen  will  be  tickled 
to  death.  So  far  as  he  could  he  intimated  he 
was  with  us  every  trip.  I  think  I  will  take  a 
drink.  But  what  the  devil  are  you  lookino^  so 
glum  for?  Xevius,  listen  to  me,  it  was  your 
duty  to  deny  everything,  but  till  I  got  that 
certificate,  I'll  be  shot  if — 

Nevius  checked  him  as  with  a  bit,  What 
will  Tooth  do?"  he  asked,  and  so  seriously 
that  O'DonnelPs  jubilance  evaporated.  '"What 
will  he  do  when  you  produce  this  thing?" 

"  Increase  the  charges  on  his  bill.  I  suppose. 
What  is  there  for  him  to  do  except  to  return 
to  his  Tombs  practice?" 


214  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"  Do  you  know,"  added  Nevius  absently,  "I 
would  prefer  it  not  to  go  on  record." 

"  Are  you  mad  ?  "  O'Donnell  snarled.  "This 
is  the  case.  We  have  won  it  without  calling  a 
witness.  Could  I  have  foreseen  it,  do  you 
suppose  I  would  have  bothered  over  those 
wenches  your  wife  employed?  " 

Nevius  shook  his  head,  his  eyes  strange  and 
weary. 

"  No,  and  could  I  have  foreseen  that  my 
wife — O'Donnell,  the  point  is  here.  If  you 
show  this  privately  to  Tooth  he  will  under- 
stand that  he  has  lost.  And  yet  he  likes  to 
win,  does  he  not? 

"  Where  is  the  attorney  who  don't?  I 
myself — 

"  Yes,  I  know.  You  have  been  very  kind, 
O'Donnell,  but  there  is  one  thing  more  you 
can  do.  Show  this  to  Tooth,  tell  him  to  with- 
draw the  charge   against   Miss  Adulam,  to 


9 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  215 

amend  liis  complaint,  and  if  lie  agrees,  assure 
him  tliati  will  not  further  contest  his  efforts." 
"I  don't  understand."' 

"  After  this  Ytihrer  business,  he  is  not  above 
a  trick  or  two,  is  he?  Tell  him  to  invent  a 
co-respondent,  the  servants  he  can  coach  to 
testify  to  what  he  wants,  and — the  divorce  is 
his.  I  am  tired  of  it  all.  O'Donnell,  do  this 
for  me,  won't  you?  " 

Sweet  to  the  profession  is  the  smell  of  an 
enemy's  corpse,  and  just  as  that  fragrance  was 
to  be  O'Donnell's  why  should  he  be  taken  afar? 
He  was  not  at  all  pleased  and  said  so,  but  to 
the  loss  of  the  odors  for  which  he  had  hungered, 
at  last  he  became  reconciled.  A  fortnight  later 
a  report  was  handed  up  recommending  that 
divorce  be  granted  to  Hilda  Xevius,  plaintiff, 
on  the  ground  of  her  husband's  illicit  commerce 
with  a  woman  unknown,  "Which  report  was 
promptly  and  properly  confirmed. 


216  MADAM  SAPPHlSA. 

A  day  or  two  and  Nevius  found  his  name 
again  in  leaded  type.  Beneath,  augmented  with 
new  embroideries,  was  the  old  story  retold. 
There  was  the  initial  accusation  of  the  grief- 
stricken  wife,  his  own  admission  of  guilt  and 
headlong  flight.  Then  his  return,  denying 
everything  but  doing  nothing  to  defend  charges 
which  had  just  been  substantiated  in  full.  Ac- 
cording to  the  reporter  the  evidence  was  of  such 
a  character  that  it  had  to  be  heard  in  camera. 
Kevins  had  not  even  had  the  courage  to  appear. 
But  every  accusation  had  been  proved,  and  now 
his  poor,  wounded  wife,  who  had  borne  with 
his  infidelities  until  forbearance  had  ceased  to 
be  a  virtue,  at  last  was  free.  In  dissolving  the 
miserable  bands  the  court  had  granted  her  per- 
mission to  assume  her  maiden  name,  a  permis. 
sion  of  which  she  would  at  once  avail  herself. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  the  wealthy  banker.; 
Thomas  B.  Snaith,  and  very  prominent  in  so- 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  217 

ciety,  as  were  also  the  co-respondents,  one  of 
whom  was  a  dashing  western  widow,  the  other, 
one  of  Saratoga's  reigning  belles.  And  so  on 
and  so  forth  at  the  rate  of  eight  dollars  a 
column  and  a  tenner  for  the  "beat."  "The 
Lord  loveth  a  cheerful  liar,"  Nevius  reflected 
as  he  put  the  Chronicle  down. 

But  O'Donnell  had  not  been  deprived  of 
certain  fragrances  for  nothing.  He  wrote  a  note, 
the  substance  of  which — that  Miss  Adulam  had 
been  fully  exonerated  and  her  name  withdrawn 
— appeared  on  the  morrow  in  the  Chronicle^ s 
obscurest  corner  and  in  the  Chronicle' s  smallest 
type. 


218 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


XVII. 

The  paths  to  happiness  are  not  many,  but 
they  are  well  defined.  The  finger-posts  of  the 
easiest  are  those  which  point  to  health  and 
indifference. 

But  there  are  others  that  have  a  value,  and 
between  them  the  wayfarer  has  halted  and  will 
halt  and  conjecture.  One  leads  to  religion, 
and  the  pilgrim,  if  he  be  sorely  depressed  and 
temperamentally,  disposed  will  find  it  an 
excellent  route.  It  may  be  tortuous,  the  goal 
may  be  remote,  there  may  be  ghosts  at  the 
crossings,  but  at  least  the  traveller  has  that 
greatest  of  consolations — the  belief  that  he  is 
still  a  child,  watched  over  and  protected. 

Another  leads  to  that  pure  realm  of  ideas 
where  individual  preoccupations  may  not  enter, 


MADAII  SAPPHIEA.  219 

where  only  the  mysteries  of  beauty  and  of  life 
enditre. 

But  this  route,  rarely  chosen,  is  adapted  but 
to  the  student  to  whom  solitude  can  o3er  the 
dual  advantage  of  being  with  himself  and  of 
not  being  with  others. 

Xevius  selected  it.  Health  had  ceased  to 
interest  him.  temperamentally  he  was  too 
nervous  to  acquire  and  preserve  that  suspen- 
sion of  judgment  of  which  indiS'erence  is  the 
fruit;  and  mentally  he  was  too  agile  to  accept 
dogmas  unquestioned.  He  indeed  tried  to 
fatigue  the  mind  in  the  fatigue  of  the  body,  but 
when,  after  hours  of  that  sponge  for  thought 
which  the  saddle  alone  supplies,  there  was  a 
Cj_uestion-mark  in  waiting.  The  why  and  where- 
fore of  the  divorce  haunted  him  still.  And  as 
law  was  no  longer  possible,  and  his  career  at 
an  end,  he  had  a  choice  between  drink  and 
study.    In  the  former  he  tried  to  drown  that 


220  ^  ADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

interrogation  mark.  But  the  interrogation 
mark  knew  how  to  swim.  Then  he  plunged 
into  history. 

Between  Caesar  and  Heliogabalus  there  was 
a  moment  when  the  gods  no  longer  were,  when 
Christ  had  not  come,  when  man  alone  existed. 
In  disgust  of  modernity  it  was  to  that  epoch 
that  he  turned.  The  classics  were  at  his  elbow, 
and  in  the  splendors  which  they  evoked  he 
reconstructed  Eome,  Presently  the  book- 
sellers were  at  work  and  he  had  invoices  of 
curious  lore.  Before  the  roses  could  fade  he 
wreathed  himself  with  them.  He  had  advent- 
ures in  the  Subura,  escapades  with  dazzling 
young  empresses  and  re-lived  the  inimitable 
life.  To  the  hum  of  harps  he  floated  on  a 
ship  that  had  gardens,  bowers,  spangled  sails 
and  a  jewelled  prow.  On  painted  elephants  he 
quarried  lions  in  their  African  fens.  Throb- 
bing through  the  rushes  of  the  Nile  there  cam': 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  221 

to  him  the  grave  music  of  archaic  hymns. 
Serapis  whispered  to  him.  Isis  visited  him 
unveiled.  He  sailed  the  ^gean,  scaled 
Parnassus,  lounged  in  the  Academe.  He 
prayed  in  temples  that  never  heard  an 
atheist's  voice,  passed  initiate  into  the  mys- 
steries  of  Eleusis,  encountered  divinities  and 
monsters,  curious  superstitions  and  unten- 
able creeds.  He  found  grace  and  lust,  deform- 
ity and  magnificence,  usiimagined  depravities, 
torturesome  delights.  He  wandered  from 
palace  to  lupanar,  from  prison  to  shrine,  from 
Porum  to  camp.  There  was  not  a  sin  nor  an 
altar  that  he  passed  unexamined,  not  a  secret 
that  he  left  unprobed. 

When  antiquity  was  his,  he  rose  from  its 
study  perplexed.  Nowhere  had  he  encountered 
hypocrisy.    Therewith  the  Why  returned. 


222 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


XVIII. 

"Yes,  I  am  off  for  Europe.  For  centuries 
I  have  been  travelling  on  the  map,  now  I  am  to 
try  another  tack.  Come  with  me,  Carol.  You 
don't  know  what  a  charming  companion  I  am. 
No  one  does.    I  never  open  my  head.'' 

Jones,  a  leg  over  the  arm  of  a  chair,  a  cigar- 
ette in  his  fingers,  a  smile  of  protracted  ami- 
ability fluttering  in  and  out  his  tawny  beard, 
was  discounting  the  pleasures  of  a  trip  abroad. 

"  In  the  autumn  we  could  visit  that  city  from 
which  you  have  just  returned.  Mention  Egypt 
and  /ou  see  a  priest,  Persia,  and  you  see  a 
king,  Greece — a  goddess,  but  Eome  was  Might 
Triumphant.  And  to  think  that  I  have  never 
been  there — in  this  existence  I  mean,  for  I  can 
swear  I  have  jolted  in  chariots  over  those  wide 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


223 


white  roads.  I  can  swear  that  I  have  supped 
with  Lalage  and  thrown  dice  with  Faustine. 
When  I  read  history,  memories  return  l-n  floods. 
Let  us  go  together  and  see  what  remains  of  the 
temples  in  which  we  have  lived." 

He  puffed  at  his  cigarette.  "  And  such  good 
as  it  would  do  you.  A  change  of  scene  and 
you  w^ould  begin  to  forget.  You  need  to  for- 
get. This  accursed  divorce  is  assuming  the 
proportions  of  a  pyramid.  It  is  over  a  year 
since  it  ended,  and  still  you  brood.  You  will 
kill  yourself  as  Tredegar  has  if  you  sit  moping 
in  this  horror  of  a  house.  Not  but  what  I  ap- 
preciate the  advantage  of  sorrow.  Che  non 
soffre,  non  vince, — non  Leonardo  da  Vinci  The 
tragedy  of  my  life  is  that  there  has  been  no 
tragedy  at  all.  If  I  have  not  written  a  great 
novel,  there  is  the  cause.  An  artist's  one  value 
consists  in  his  sorrows.  They  are  all  aspira- 
tions.   The  world  is  filled  with  people  whose 


224  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

lives  are  so  puerile,  whose  aims  are  so  narrow 
that  we  should  bless  the  misfortune  which 
makes  us  nobler  than  they.  Why,  grief  is  a 
pleasure,  it  is  a  joy  to  weep.    But — " 

"/Si  je  doute  des  larmes!'^''  Nevius  incon- 
sequently  objected.  "  C^est  que  je  Vai  vu 
pleurer^ 

"Ah,  we  have  been  reading  de  Musset  havo 
we?  Fort  hien,  Monseigneur,  fort  bien,  mats 
6coide : 

"N'  es-tu  pas  jeune,  heureux,  partout  le  bien  venu, 
Et  ces  plaisirs  lt3gers  qui  font  aimer  la  vie, 
Si  tu  n'  avais  pleurd,  quel  cas  en  ferais-tu? 
Lorsqu'au  d^^clin  du  jour,  assis  sur  la  bruyfere — 
La  bruy^re  c'  est  ton  f auteuil— 

Avec  un  vieil  ami — le  vieil  ami,  c'est  moi — tu  bois'  en 
liberty — • 

Oh,  pour  ca!  Comme  un  Polonais  m^me — ■ 
Dis  moi,  d'  aussi  bon  coeur  l^veras-tu  ton  verre 
Si  tu  n'  avais  senti  le  prix  de  la  gaiety? 
Aimerais-tu  les  fleurs,  les  pr^s  et  la  verdure 
Les  sonnets  de  P^trarque  et  le  chant  des  oiseaux, 
Michel-Ange  et  les  arts,  Shakespeare  et  la  nature 
Si  tu  n'  y  retrouvais  quelques  anciens  sanglots? 


Madam  SArPHiiJA. 


226 


Comprendrais-tu  des  cieux  1'  ineffable  harmonies 

Le  silence  des  nuits,  le  murmure  des  flots 

Si  quelque  part,  labas,  la  fi6vre  et  1'  insomnie 

Ne  t'  avait  fait  songer  a  1'  ^ternel  repos? 

Plains  la  done,  plains  la  done,  cette  belle  infid^le — " 

"Yes,  Imd  slie  been  that,"  Nevius  inter- 
rupted, moved  in  spite  of  himself  by  the 
beauty  of  lines  which  he,  too,  knew  by  heart. 
"  Had  she  been  tnfidSle,  I  could  see  my  way 
clearer.  But  though  a  year  has  gone  by  since 
she  got  the  decree,  still  I  am  unable  to  under- 
stand why  she  asked  for  it.  There  was  a 
moment  when  I  thought  her  insane,  when  I 
thought,  God  forgive  me,  that  this  affair  at  an 
end  I  could  win  her  back,  reason  with  her, 
plead  with  her,  love  her  again.  But  there  was 
no  insanity  in  her  eyes  when  we  met  in  court, 
a  malignant  exultation  merely.  And  why? 
That  Why  is  the  first  thing  I  find  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  last  that  leaves  me  at  night.  For  a 
year  I  have  been  haunted  by  interrogation 


226  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

marKS,  they  are  everywhere,  they  are  in  the 
food  I  eat.  I  close  my  eyes  and  still  I  see 
them.  Even  in  sleep  they  pursue  me,  they  fill 
my  dreams." 

"It  is  o£  course  supposable,"  Jones,  with 
singular  acquiescence,  replied,  "that  in  asking 
for  a  divorce  this  lady  had  a  motive.  The  ma- 
lignity was  due  to  your  effort  to  thwart  her. 
The  exultation  came  of  the  prospect  of  showing 
that  her  lies  were  true." 

"  But  Avhy  drag  herself  through  all  that 
mud  ?  I  am  a  gentleman  at  least,  am  I  not  ?  If 
she  wanted  a  divorce  why  in  God's  name 
didn't  she  tell  me  before  I  went  to  Paris.  I 
am  not  a  bit  better  than  another,  I  have  had 
my  little  hearts  as  well  as  anyone  else,  and  1 
could  have  got  it  for  her,  without  scandal, 
without  disgrace,  without  the  ruin  of  three 
lives— Well,  Patrick,  what  is  it?" 

From  the  tray  which  the  man  held  he  took  a 
pink  card,  gilt-edged. 


MADAM  SAI>PHIBA.  22? 
**A  lady,  sir." 

Jones  laughed  loud  and  long.  "  En  avard  les 
amourettes.  Va  donc^  farceur.''^ 

"  Blythe  Sisseton,"  Nevius  repeated.  "  Never 
heard  of  her.  Patrick,  ask  her  what  she  wants." 

"That's  Ablaut's  Ex,"  said  Jones,  as  Pat- 
rick turned,  but  he  bit  his  tongue  as  he  did  so. 

"Ablaut's  Ex?" 

"  Oh,  a  little  chorus  girl  whom  he  invited  to 
dance  the  waltz  in  Faust.  Man  proposes  you 
know,  and  chorus  girls  accept.  But  in  accept- 
ing she  meant  Forever  and  he  meant  To-night.  " 

"Well?" 

"  That's  all.  What  do  you  expect?  A  three- 
volume  novel?  He  wrote  Finis  on  a  cheque 
ages  ago.  In  the  circumstances  it  would  be 
foolish  of  you  to  see  her." 

"Foolish  of  me?  What  in  thunder  do  you 
mean  ?  What  have  I  got  to  do  with  her  ?  Why 
should  it  be  foolish  of  me  to  see  her  ?  But  what 
are  you  staring  at  me  for?" 


228  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"I'm  not  staring  at  you;"  Jones  snapped 
back.  "  I  am  merely  giving  you  a  little  friend- 
ly advice.  The  girl  is  probably  here  out  of 
curiosity,  to  have  a  look  at  the  defendant  in  a 
cause  cSlebre.  If  you  are  going  to  make  a 
freak  of  yourself,  run  right  down  and  show  your- 
self off.  But  in  your  place  I  would  send  word 
that  I  was  out,  that  I  was  dead.  Now  here's 
Patrick—" 

"  She  says  she  won't  detain  you  but  a  mo- 
ment, sir,  she — " 

Nevius  stood  up  and  made  for  the  door.  Be- 
fore he  could  reach  it  Jones  had  him  by  the 
arm. 

Carol,  let  me  go." 
Without  a  word  Nevius  shook  him  off  and 
left  the  room.    But  what  was  the  meaning  of 
that  strange  look  he  had? 

'Does  he  suspect?"  The  novelist  queried. 
"  But  when  he  knows T'  He  j^aused  and  looked 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  229 

about.  * 'Anything  would  be  better  than  to  see 
the  newspapers  dripping  again  with  his  name. 
I  must  suggest  something,  but  what?" 

Ten  minutes  later  the  front  door  closed. 
When  Neyius  re-entered  the  library  Jones  was 
reading  Spinoza. 

''You  knew  this!"  Nevius  blurted.  The 
strange  look  had  gone  from  his  face,  but  a 
stranger  one  had  come.  He  was  livid,  and  the 
corners  of  his  mouth  had  widened.  "  Why 
have  I  been  gulled  on  every  side?  Why  could 
you  not  tell  me?  " 

"  Dear  boy,  what  omniscience  is  it  that  you 
attribute  to  me  ? "  And  Jones  tossed  aside 
the  book  he  held  and  smiled.  "  The  announce- 
ment of  your  lady's  engagement  to  Ablaut,  if 
it  is  that  to  which  you  refer,  was  news  to  me 
until  I  read  it  in  the  Herald  this  morning." 

"  Bah !  Why  didn't  you  tell  me  she  was  his 
mistress?    Why  couldn't  you  have  told  me? 


230  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

I  committed  suicide  because  of  that  woman. 
And  look  at  these  letters!  " 

But  Jones  had  no  need  to  look  at  those  blue, 
iris-scented  communications,  each  stamped 
with  the  Nevius  crest,  to  divine  what  they  con- 
tained. 

"  Look  at  them,"  Nevius  repeated.  "  Months 
before  she  began  that  suit,  she  was  writing  to 
him  things  like  these." 

"With  a  wrench  he  tore  his  collar  apart. 

"Why  couldn't  you  have  told  me,"  he 
gasped,  "why — why?" 

*'How  could  I,  dear  boy,  I  didn't  know,"  the 
novelist  with  splendid  mendacity  replied. 
"  But  supposing,  even  that  suspecting  such  a 
thing,  I  had  so  much  as  hinted  at  it,  you  would 
have  held  me  up.  '  Your  evidence  or  your 
life,'  you  would  have  bawled.  And  I  am  not 
like  you,  Carol,  alone  in  the  world.  I  have 
my  publishers  to  support.    But  now  that  the 


imADAM  sapphiea.  231 

cat  is  out  of  the  bag,  the  one  thing  for  you  to 
do  is  to  say  ScJiicamm  darilher  and  pray  that 
Ablaut  may  make  an  honest  woman  of  her. 
Do  sit  down  now  and  be  quiet.  Write  to  him, 
why  don't  you  ?  Paper  is  a  splendid  conductor 
for  steam.  Send  him  your  congratulations. 
Say  that  you  have  just  learned  of  the  engage- 
ment, and  that  if  the  fair  betrothed  makes  him 
half  as  happy  as  she  has  made  you,  he  is  the 
man  of  all  others  to  be  envied." 

"  Yes,"  Jones  continued  with  a  twist  to  his 
beard,  but  an  eye  on  his  host.  "  A  little 
eighteenth-century  j3o7zYesse  of  that  kind  is  far 
bettei'  than  big  words  and  short  phrases.  Any- 
thing, Carol,  anything  but  a  row.  I  don't 
wonder  though  that  you  look  as  if  a  scrap 
would  be  a  revel.  Diygrce  is  like  matrimony, 
dear  boy,  a  fellow  has  got  to  go  through  it 
three  or  four  times  before  he  knows  how.  By 
the  time  this  lady  gets  done,  what  an  expert 


232  MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 

she  will  be!  It  is  true  she  is  exceptionally 
gifted,  facile  princijjessa,  as  one  might  say, 
'')ut — now  give  that  to  me,  I  am  ashamed  of 
yon." 

"It  i«  not  loaded,"  Nevius  muttered  from 
between  his  teeth. 

"  Even  if  it  is  not,  it  is  capable  of  becoming 
so  I  suppose.  Were  Ablaut  in  this  room  and 
you  shot  him  you  would  be  acquitted — pro- 
vided these  letters  were  read.  But  would  you 
permit  them  to  go  before  a  jury  ?  I  wouldn't 
let  the  villain  in  a  novel  defend  himself  at  the 
expense  of  a  woman's  honor,  and  you,  Carol, 
are  a  gentleman  in  flesh  and  blood.  You 
remember  that  episode  at  Nice.  There  the 
lady  showed  even  less  foresight.  The  husband 
surprised  the  lover  in  her  arms,  but  when  he 
shot,  civilization  revolted  at  the  medisevalism 
of  the  act.  Legally  he  was  justified,  but  law 
and  good  breeding  are  not  the  same." 


MADAM  C.i.PPHIEA. 


233 


Jones  gave  another  twist  to  liis  beard  and 
the  douche  of  words  continued. 

"  No,  dear  boy,  you  can't  shoot  Ablaut.  On 
the  contrary,  you  should  be  very  nice  to  him. 
He  is  in  trouble.  He  has  been  led  astray, 
and  these  are  the  wages  of  sin.  From  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  engagement  I  suppose  he 
considers  that  this  lady  is  in  honor  bound  to 
make  reparation,  and  while  I  can  understand 
that,  I  can  not  understand  what  induced  him 
to  commit  the  error  w^hich  makes  the  repara- 
tion needful.  No,  he  deserves  your  sympathy. 
A  more  venomous,  soulless  little  cafin  than 
she  who  is  to  lead  him  to  the  halter — altar, 
I  mean — doesn't  exist,  and  never  has,  outside 
the  walls  of  St.  Lazare." 

"H'm— " 

Nevius  muttered  something,  but  whether  in 
agreement  or  rebuke,  Jones  did  not  care.  He 
drawled  on  uninterruptedly  in  the  leisurely 
fashion  in  which  he  had  begun: 


234  MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 

"  This  morning,  when  I  read  the  announce- 
ment, it  took  me  a  moment  before  I  understood 
why  she  waited  as  long  as  she  has.  Knowing 
her,  as  several  of  u-s  do,  it  was  quite  on  the 
cards  that  she  should  bring  Ablaut  to  book  the 
day  the  decree  was  signed.    But  remember  on 
what  grounds  it  was  granted.    The  woman  in 
the  amended  complaint  existed  only  in  Tooth's 
imagination,  and  existed  there  only  at  your 
suggestion.     It  was  the   Frick  case  upside 
down.     Tandems  and  tally-ho's  could  have 
been  driven  straight  through  it — which  was 
the  reason,  I  fancy,  when   the  newspapers 
were  jubilating  over  your  defeat  that  you  held  . 
your  tongue.    And,  by  the  way,  do  you  know 
who  it  was  that  inspired  that  jubilee?  This 
lady,  dear  boy,  no  one  else.    She  had  the  ar- 
ticles written  to  order,  and  she  had  marked 
copies  sent  to  every  one  she  knew.  Actually 
she  sent  one  to  me.    She  did  not  think  it 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  235 

worth  while,  though,  to  send  O'Donnell's 
contradiction.  Ah,  mais  nonP^  And  Jones 
drew  breath. 

"But  to  return  to  the  point,  had  she  led 
Ablaut  to  the  altar  as  precipitately  as  she  led 
you  to  court,  you,  had  you  chosen,  could 
have  vitiated  her  decree,  vitiated  her  mar- 
riage, and  very  neatly  turned  the  tables  by 
applying  for  a  divorce  from  her.  All  that 
you  could  have  done,  dear  boy,  more  too,  had 
she  been  stupid  enough  to  let  you.  But  she 
wasn't.  The  dear  little  thing  knew  a  trick 
worth  two  of  that.  You  had  one  year  in  which 
to  appeal,  yesterday  the  year  expired;  to-day 
the  engagement  is  announced.  And  you  can 
do  nothing.  Not  a  thing,  dear  boy.  You 
can't  even  shoot  her;  no,  not  any  more  than 
you  can  shoot  Ablaut.  Put  any  such  idea  as 
that  out  of  your  head.  She  has  been  malig- 
nant as  syphilis,  I  admit;  she  has  disgraced, 


286  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

corroded  and  destroyed;  her  conduct  has  been 
without  parallel,  without  excuse  ;  that  she 
should  be  lapidated  I  admit  also;  I  have  noth- 
ing but  contempt  for  her;  she  has  unsexed  her- 
self, and  if  you  struck  her  in  the  face  with 
your  glove,  you  would  pay  her  an  honor  she 
does  not  deserve.  But  you  can't  shoot  her. 
To  defend  any  such  act  these  letters  would 
have  to  be  read.  And  though  you  may  say 
now  that  they  could  be  read,  and  not  only  that 
but  all  the  secrets  of  this  divorce  be  ventilated, 
yet  when  the  time  came  you  would  permit 
nothing  of  the  sort,  and  you  would  be  electro- 
cuted, dear  boy,  because  of  this  fallatrix  for 
whose  sake  a  skunk  is  too  good  to  dje." 

The  novelist  paused  and  contemplated  his 
finger-tips.  Presently,  with  a  glance  that  noted 
the  effects  of  the  douche,  he  began  anew: 

"  No,  you  are  too  young,  life  holds  too  many 
possibilities  yet,  for  you  to  jeopardize  it  for 


MADAM  SAPPHlEA.  237 

her  or  for  her  maquereau  either.  Could  you  kill 
her,  as  I  have  killed  many  a  culprit  in  my 
novels,  without  a  suspicion  resting  on  the 
executioner,  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think  I 
would  approve.  But  the  difficulty  is  that  she 
is  not  under  your  roof  and  not  being  a  cracks- 
man you  can't  get  mider  her's.  Were  she 
here  in  Tenth  street,  a  bit  of  catgut  tied  across 
the  head  of  the  stairs,  a  slight  shove,  and  there 
you  are.  The  catgut  vanishes  and  another 
accident  in  high  life  is  recorded.  Failing  that, 
you  could  try  a  folding-bed;  many  a  person  has 
been  smothered  in  them,  ^^ou  could  imitate 
Incoul  and  turn  on  the  gas  when  she  was 
asleep,  you  could  give  her  a  vibrio  in  a  mush- 
room, or  squeeze  a  taste  of  cyanide  of  potassium 
into  her  champagne.  Any  one  of  these  things, 
or  of  a  hundred  others,  you  could  do  if  she 
were  here,  but  luck  is  hers  and  she  isn't. 
"  Now,  in  vievr  of  all  the  circumstances,  were 


23§  MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 

this  one  of  my  novels,  I  would  have  the  injured 
hero  experiment  in  what  will  be  one  of  the  fine 
arts  of  the  next  century — Execution  at  a  Dis- 
tance. There  are  bungler-s  who  send  explosives 
by  express,  which  is  well  enough  in  its  way  when 
^  it  happens  to  be  successful,  but  even  then  the 
intention  is  manifest  and  the  police  are  run- 
ning right  and  left.  The  art  of  Execution  at 
a  Distance,  as  practiced  by  the  adept,  will  con- 
sist in  projecting  an  agent  in  such  a  manner 
that  it  kills  and  leaves  no  trace  either  of  its 
purpose  or  of  its  advent. 

"  For  instance — by  ^he  v?.y,  I  fninK  /  will 
take  a  little  o£  that  whisky — for  instance,  a 
young  man  is  enamoured  of  a  young  woman. 
Difficulties  ensue.  Correspondence  there  must 
be,  but  how?  By  invisible  ink,  let  us  say,  which 
becomes  visible  when  breathed  upon.  For  a 
year  and  a  day  the  young  man  writes  to  his 
Dulcinea  with  ink  of  this  description.  Suddenly 


MADAM  SAPPHIBA.  239 

she  wearies  or  lie  does.  What  does  he  do,  give 
her  aconite  pills  ?  He  gives  a  sheet  of  paper  a 
bath  of  hydrocyanic,  a  coating  of  starch  to  pro- 
tect it  and  drops  it  in  a  letter  box.  When  the 
young  woman  receives  it,  she  breathes  on  it  to 
decipher  what  he  has  written,  and  falls  dead, 
a  piece  of  white  paper  in  her  hands.  Coroner's 
verdict:  heart  disease. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  supposing  he  has  had 
no  time  or  no  need  to  train  her  to  the  advan- 
tages of  invisible  ink.  As  a  love-token  he  sends 
her  a  box  of  flowers  saturated  with  a  similar 
preparation.  She  opens  the  box,  the  hydro- 
cyanic escapes  and  she  is  dead.  Verdict:  heart 
failure." 

The  novelist  emptied  his  glass  and  looked  at 
Nevius.  But  the  latter  had  got  his  face  in  the 
shadow,  a  hand  before  it  as  well. 

"All  that,"  Jones  added  thoughtfully,  "all 
that  is  for  the  Year  of  our  Lord  2001.  Nowa- 


240 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


days  people  have  such  prejudices,  and  yet  if 
stupidity  hurt  how  many  would  yell !" 

For  a  while  neither  spoke,  and  to  amuse 
himself  perhaps,  Jones  took  a  sheet  of  paper 
and  began  to  scribble.  Presently  he  looked 

"  But  what  a  rattling  good  story  the  whole 
thing  would  make.  And  what  a  lot  I  could  do 
with  you.  I  could  begin  with  you  from  the 
cradle,  carry  you  right  through  everything,  put 
your  hat  on  and  kill  you.  Suicide  is  always  a 
good  climax.  And  I  could  call  it — let  me  see, 
I  should  have  to  find  something  comprehensive, 
a  title  both  neat  and  terse,  one  that  would  con- 
vey an  entire  existence." 

His  eyes  roamed  to  the  ceiling,  consulted  the 
pencil,  fell  again  on  the  paper  on  which  he  had 
written,  and  lighted  sagaciously. 

"  I  have  it — From  Womb  to  Tomb.  Carol, 
dear  boy,  what  do  you  say  to  that?  " 

As  Nevius  seemingly  had  nothing  to  say, 


ilADAAI  SAPPHIEA,  241 

Joues  nodded  complacentlr  to  himself  and  rose 
from  his  seat. 

T  have  accomplished  mv  object,  heau 
fenehreucc.  I  have  bored  von  so  that  3'our 
auger  is  gone.  Thank  me  now  and  let  me  go 
also,  but  remember  I  sail  on  Saturday  and  you 
must  sail,  too.'' 

For  a  while  longer  yevius  sat.  a  hand  be- 
fore his  face.  But  behind  that  hand  were 
passing  the  incidents  of  the  day:  the  coming 
of  that  little  girl  the  letters  which  she  had 
fotmd  in  her  lover's  rooms,  letters  with  vrhich 
she  had  threatened  the  lover  tmtil  threats  were 
idle  and  his  engagement  was  announced.  And 
these  letters,  brought  to  him  with  the  intelli- 
gence of  that  engagement,  were  written  by  one 
who  had  pretended  to  love  him.  whom  he  had 
defended,  laudeel  and  worshipped,  who  called 
herself  Mrs.  Xevius  still  and  who  had  wrecked 
three  lives.    Back  to  him  crowded  the  memo- 

16 


242  MADAM  SAPPHIBA. 

lies  of  the  past.  The  scraps  of  the  letter 
found  ill  the  basket.  That  was  to  Jenny,  was 
it  ?  How  clever  she  had  been  that  day.  How 
cleverly  black  had  been  turned  to  white.  How 
clever,  too,  had  been  her  tactics  in  regard  to 
that  poor  girl.  And  with  what  neatness  and 
despatch  had  she  not  brought  Yuhrer  to  the 
house.  Yes,  she  had  been  very  clever,  but  the 
cleverest  thing  of  all  was  in  declaring  herself 
broken-hearted.  And  this  was  the  little  Hilda 
whom  he  thought  would  be  so  sorry  when  she 
learned  the  truth.  The  truth  indeed!  It  had 
been  for  him  to  learn  it.  And  now  that  he 
had, — Madam  Sapphira,  be  on  your  guard ! 

He  repeated  the  menace;  the  echo  perhaps 
aroused  him.  On  the  table  were  the  letters, 
and  near  them  a  bit  of  paper  embroidered  with 
pencil-marks,  the  rough  sketch  of  a  tombstone, 
on  which  in  neat  characters  was  writ : 


madam  saithika.  243 

Here  Lies  Hilda  Sxaith, 
And  That  is  All  She  Eyee  Did. 
Eequies  cat  in  pace. 

At  this  effort  of  the  novelist's  he  barely 
glanced;  his  eyes  vrere  fumbling  the  shelves. 
There  ^'as  a  book  on  chemistry  that  he  wanted, 
and  having  got  it  he  opened  it,  questioned 
it,  and  sittinsf  down  ao;ain  interrogated  the 
future  and  roamed  through  the  past. 


244 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA. 


XIX. 

The  Why  had  gone.  He  was  no  longer 
haunted,  he  knew.  There  are  people  to  whom 
doubt  is  better  than  certainty  and  Nevius  was 
one  of  them.  The  problem  had  occupied 
him;  that  gone  he  had  nothing  left — a  duty 
merely — to  which  he  presently  tarned  his 
attention. 

Of  the  iDcidents  remote  and  dismissed 
which  had  suddenly  returned  was  one  he 
detained — the  memory  of  a  young  girl  exam- 
ining her  wedding  gifts.  Among  these  gifts 
were  two  vinaigrettes,  and  he  could  see  her 
still,  holding  one,  then  the  other  to  the  mirror 
to  judge  which  was  the  more  becoming.  The 
choice  made,  the  rejected  vinaigrette  had  been 
returned  to  Tiffanv  and  some  exchano^e  effected. 


majjam  sapphiea.  245 

It  was  the  one  incident  of  tlie  old  pre- 
nnptial  days  that  had  jarred,  and  it  had  partic- 
nlarlT  jarred  in  that  the  vinaigrette  h  had 
been  exchanged,  was  the  gift  to  His  bride  of 
one  whose  hand  he  had  hekl  and  whose  hsLd 
he  had  loved  to  hold.  Apart,  then,  fi'om  any 
sentiment  which  he  might  hare  attached  to  the 
tribute,  the  commercial  aspect  with  which  it 
was  regarded  annoyed,  and  continued  to  annoy 
until,  other  incidents  interyening.  it  was 
forgot. 

But  it  had  retrirned.  and  of  an  afternoon  when 
the  heat  was  such  that  man  and  beast  fell  dead  in 
the  streets  he  ventured  out  to  shop.  There  was 
a  scent-bottle,  covered  with  gems.,  one  which 
it  would  delight  any  woman  to  have  and 
display,  which,  without  any  difficulty,  he 
made  his  own.  And  there  was  also  a  phial 
of  anhydrous  prussic  acid — but  that  he  diii 
not  obtain  until  he  had  produced  a  jumble  of 
Latin  and  hieroglyphics. 


246' 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


Later,  in  the  quiet  of  the  library,  with 
mouth  and  nostrils  bandaged,  his  eyes  pro- 
tected, his  hands  well  gloved,  he  poured  the 
contents  of  the  phial  into  the  jewelled  toy,  and 
re-stoppering  both  bottles, removed  the  bandage 
and  breathed.  It  is  not  every  neophite  whose 
initial  effort  in  laboratory  work  is  attended 
with  such  success,  and  that  fact  he  doubtless 
appreciated,  for  having  breathed,  he  smiled. 
If  all  else  failed,  might  he  not  turn  chemist? 
The  idea  must  have  amused  him,  for,  as  he  put 
the  vinaigrette  back  in  its  case,  the  smile  was 
still  there,  and  as  he  wrapped  up  the  case  and 
directed  it,  he  laughed.  But  then,  chemistry 
is  one  of  the  most  delightful  pursuits  imagin- 
able, and  he  had  been  so  long  unoccupied  that 
a  possibility  with  even  less  perspective  might 
have  charmed. 

Yet  where,  apart  from  Ceylon,  is  that  pros- 
pect which  always  pleases  ?    An  hour  had  not 


MADAM  SAPPHIRA.  247 

passed  before  the  vistas  disclosed  must  have 
lost  their  allurement.  The  laughter,  the  smile 
had  gone.  In  their  place  came  a  look  perplex- 
ing and  enervating,  and  through  the  quiet  of 
the  house  pulsated  a  throbbing  so  loud,  so 
loud,  that  to  still  it,  perhaps,  too,  to  rid  his 
mind  of  chemistry  and  its  charms,  he  drank. 

It  was  the  drink,  no  doubt,  which  on  the 
morrow  confined  him  to  his  room.  But  such 
a  sedative  is  rest  that  on  the  succeeding  day  he 
was  able  to  get  to  the  floor  below  and  breakfast 
too.  Melon  is  not  unpalatable  at  any  hour, 
and  when  he  had  eaten  a  little  he  was  quite  in 
the  humor  to  smoke  a  cigarette  and  learn  the 
news  of  the  day.  It  was  the  Times  which  he 
selected  for  the  purpose,  and  after  reading  of 
the  Homestead  rebellion  as  he  turned  from  the 
fourth  page  where  the  editorials  are  to  the  fifth 
where  the  advertisements  such  as  death  notices 
appear,  the  paper  fell  from  him,  the  name 


248 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA. 


Nevius  had  jumped  ont  and  stabbed  him  in  the 
eyes. 

He  got  to  the  window,  the  court  was  deluged 
with  sunshine,  and  on  the  fence  a  piebald  cat 
was  enjoying  a  promenade. 

But  could  it  be  possible  that  that  package 
had  been  sent?  Had  he  not  hid  it  some- 
where ? 

With  a  sidelong  suspicious  glance  the  cat 
continued  its  gingerly  way. 

Could  it  be  possible?  he  repeated.  But 
what  had  he  done  with  it?  Why  could  he  not 
collect  his  thoughts  ?  He  went  up  stairs,  and 
down  once  more,  and  up  again.  Patrick 
appeared,  he  fled  away.  He  could  not  go  out, 
he  could  not  sit  still,  he  could  neither  write  nor 
speak,  BOY  act  nor  think,  and  in  his  bed-room 
where  he  hid  at  last,  he  locked  the  door. 

If  rest  be  a  sedative,  suspense  is  not.  And 
do  what  he  might,  suspense  urged  him  from 


MADAM  SAPPfllBA.  249 

sofa  to  armchair,  from  armcliair  to  sofa,  and 
finally  to  the  library,  that  he  might  see  for 
himself  if  the  package  were  there. 

On  the  table  was  a  telegram.  It  was  fi'om 
Bronx  he  knew.    Bnt  not  a  bit. 

"  Toiiraine  sails  at  noon  to-morrow.  Your 
berth  retained.  Have  wired  congratulations  to 
Mrs.  A. 

'•'A.  -B.  Fexwick  Chisholm-.Joxes."' 

Congratulations  to  Mrs.  A  !  ^Vho  was  Mrs. 
A?  He  put  the  telegram  down  and  looked 
about.  There  was  no  one  to  reply.  But  who 
was  Mis.  A?  TVhat  had  he  to  do  with  any 
Mrs.  A? 

Again  he  looked  about.  But  still  there  was 
no  one.  Yet  he  must  ask.  he  must  speak,  he 
must  know.  The  bell  was  there,  he  rang  it 
but  could  not  wait  and  ran  to  the  hall. 

"  Patrick,"  he  called.  Patrick.'' 

"Yes,  sir,  coming,  sir.'' 


250  MADAM  SAPPHIKA. 

Patrick,"  he  cried,  while  the  man  was  yet 
below.  "  Patrick,  what  is  there  in  the  papers 
to-day?" 

"  In  the  papers,  sir  ! " 

"  Tell  me,  can't  you.  Don't  you  see  I  am 
going  mad.  What  was  in  the  papers  ?  Who 
is  Mrs.  A?" 

Perplexed,  astounded,  the  man  halted  mid- 
way on  the  stair. 

"  There's  a  Mrs.  Nevius  who  has  been  and 
married  a  gentleman  whose  name  I  disre- 
member,  sir,  but — " 

"  Then  why  the  devil  couldn't  you  say  so  be- 
fore. Come  up  here.  Don't  you  hear  me? 
Come  up  I  tell  you.  I  am  going  to  Europe 
to-morrow  and  I  want  you  to  pack.  And 
Patrick—" 
Yes,  sir." 

"  Here's  a  hundred  or  more  that  you  may 
find  serviceable."    And  as  Nevius  turned  on 


MADAM  SAPPHIEA.  251 

his  lieel.  gently  ii  incorrectly,  lie  repeated  a 
verset  from  tlie  Scriptures. 

■'Beautiful  on  tlie  liill-slope  are  tlie  feet  of 
the  bearer  of  glad  news.'' 

But  what  he  meant  by  that  absurdity  who 
shall  say  ? 


Beaumaris^  August^  London,  Octoher,  189^ 


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F.  T.  NEEIsy 

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When  A  /Vldti's  Single 

A  Tale  of  Literary  Life. 

By  J.  M.  BARRIE. 

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Hypnotism. 

By  JULES  CLARETIE. 

A  Most  Remarkable  Book. 


The  spell  which  is  cast  sometimes  by  hypnotism  is  forcibly  de- 
scribed in  an  artistic  manner  by  M.  Jules  Claretie,  who  is  well  known 
as  one  of  the  masters  in  the  French  school  of  realism.  He  clearly  reveals 
the  power  of  mind  over  matter.  The  present  volume  is  the  result 
of  his  observations  and  reflections,  and  it  forcibly  deals  with  certain  social 
problems  that  modern  life  is  giving  rise  to.  M.  Claretie  is  not  only  a  clear, 
but  also  a  brilliant,  writer,  and  his  ready  flow  of  language  greatly  aids  him 
in  depicting  a  study  and  an  interpretation  of  a  problem  of  criminality 
which  is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  hypnotism.— Bosfo?^  Herald^  Jan.  2,  1893. 

The  science  of  hypnotism  is  by  no  means  exact  yet,  but  its  phenomena 
are  so  well  attested  that  they  may  eventually  be  reduced  to  a  system.  The 
domination  of  strong  minds  over  weak  ones  may  be  observed  every  day,  and 
hypnotism  is  the  exercise  of  this  power  in  the  fullest  measure.  The  subject 
hypnotized  loses  the  last  vistage  of  individual  will  and  becomes  perfectly 
obedient  to  the  master  mind.  The  terrible  possibilities  residing  in  such  a 
power,  when  possessed  by  unscrupulous  persons,  have  occurred  to  many 
investigators  of  hypnotism.  This  phase  of  the  question  has  been  made  the 
subject  of  a  story  by  Jules  Claretie,  called  "Hypnotism."  A  young  girl  is 
hypnotized  by  her  lover,  and,  obedient  to  his  will,  commits  a  theft  which  will 
enrich  him.  She  is  arrested,  but  does  not  divulge  the  source  of  the  sug- 
gestion until  she  is  thrown  again  into  a  hypnotized  trance  by  a  physician, 
who  suspects  that  she  was  an  agent  for  another.  By  this  means  the  insti- 
gating criminal  is  discovered.  The  story  is  well  told  and  well  turned 
into  English.— Buffalo  Courier,  Nov.  20, 1892. 

This  novel  is  written  in  the  style  of  the  latest  French  sensational  school. 
Its  main  character,  "Jean  Mornas,'*  a  young  doctor  of  a  pessimistic  turn  of 
mind,  and  greedy  for  riches,  becomes  almost  insanely  eager  for  the  wealth 
of  his  aged  and  invalid  uncle.  Too  great  a  coward  to  commit  a  crime  him- 
self, he  influences  his  sweetheart,  "Lucie  Lorin,"  while  in  the  hypnotic  state, 
and  she,  innocent,  acts  as  his  agent.  In  robbing  the  old  man,  she  is,  how- 
ever found  out,  compelled  to  kill  him,  and  is  discovered.  By  an  expert 
hypnoti.^t,  the  truth  of  the  matter  is  ascertained,  and  the  girl  is  proven 
guiltless.  "Mornas"  flees  from  justice  to  Monaco,  where  he  loses  his  ill-gotten 
gains  and  commits  suicide,  thus  tragically  closing  the  whole  story.^ 
Nassau  Literally  Magazine. 


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fladam  Sapphira. 

A  STORT  OF  FIFTH  AVENUE. 
By  EDGAR  SALTUS. 


AUTHOK  OF 


THE  PACE  THAT  KILLS, 

A  TRANSACTION  IN  HEARTS, 

THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  TRISTREM  VARICK, 
MR.  INCOUL'S  MISADVENTURE, 
A  TRANSIENT  GUEST, 

MARY  MAGDALEN, 
EDEN 


NOW  IN  PRESS  — READY  MARCH  FIRST. 


This  is  a  Fifth  Avenue  story,  and  being  the  first  from  this  famous 
author  for  over  two  years,  will  attract  much  attention. 


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l2*Evang<?liste. 

By  ALPHONSE  DAUDET, 

.....  THIS  AUTHOB's  most  FAMOUS  BOOK.  ..... 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  story  is  worked  out  with  artistic  consist- 
ency to  the  end,  without  the  least  concession  to  the  weak  conventionalism 
that  craves  "  a  good  ending."  The  book  is  a  tremendous,  blood-stirring 
philippic  against  certain  phases  of  our  modern  civilization  that  have  never 
before  experienced  just  this  kind  of  passionless,  yet  searching  and  remorse- 
less, surgery. — Chicago  Times. 

Daudet  is  one  of  the  foremost  French  novelists  of  the  day,  and  this 
powerfully  told  story  is  of  intense  interest. — Boston  Home  Journal. 

Mary  Neal  Sherwood  has  translated  Alphonse  Daudet's  "L'Evangeliste," 
and  inasmuch  as  Daudet  is  the  author  it  goes  without  saying  that  it  is  a 
story  most  delicately  and  artistically  told.  It  illustrates  the  evils  of  religious 
fanaticism  in  an  incisive  and  almost  terrible  manner,  and  a  serious  sermon 
underlies  the  pathetic  and  sympathetic  romance  told  by  this  master  of 
French  fiction. — The  Boston  Times. 

The  works  of  Alphonse  Daudet  always  bear  the  stamp  of  his  masterful 
style  and  graceful  diction.  In  his  w^ork  "  L'Evangeliste,"  he  has  presented 
a  terrible  tragedy,  but  instead  of  being  an  illustration  of  vice  and  resulting 
disintegration,  it  is  a  portrayal  of  virtue  in  its  garb  of  icy  indifference  to  the 
human  instincts  of  man.  A  tragedy  of  virtue  !  Can  it  be  true  that  one 
may  become  possessed  of  too  much  virtue?  Daudet  is  right.  Either  ex- 
treme becomes  a  horror.  This  book  is  worth  careful  perusal  by  the 
thoughtful  and  earnest. — Spectator. 

It  is  beyond  all  question  Daudet's  most  famous  book.  It  is  he  of  whom 
Henry  James  wrote  :  "We  have  no  one,  either  in  England  or  America,  to 
oppose  Alphonse  Daudet."  And  Joaquin  Miller  said  of  him :  "  I  had  rather 
be  Alphonse  Daudet  than  any  other  living  man  new  in  literature,  except 
two  " — meaning  Victor  Hugo  and  Joaquin  Miller.  "  L'Evangeliste  "  is  pro- 
fusely illustrated. — The  Troy  Daily  Times. 

Alphonse  Daudet  has  been  called  "  the  poet  of  romance  "  and  well  so. 
He  is  the  most  delicate,  the  most  sympathetic,  and  most  charming  of  alhour 
contemporary  writers  of  romance.  This,  his  latest,  is  by  far  hie  best.— 
Agitator. 


FINELY  II.I.USTRATEB. 

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Sweet  Danger. 

By  ELLA  WHEELER  WILCOX, 

Author  of Poems  of  Passion^''  '-^ Poems  of  Pleasure^'*  Etc, 


,  From  the  evidence  of  dramatic  power,  literary  skill,  and  felicitous  style, 
furnished  in  her  story  of  "Sweet  Danger,"  Mrs.  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  seems 
likely  to  distinguish  herself  as  much  as  a  writer  of  fiction  as  she  has  already 
done  as  a  poet.  Mrs.  Wilcox  has  evidently  been  guided  in  the  composition 
of  this  story  by  a  strong  moral  purpose,  but  we  finish  its  perusal  with  a 
sense  of  injury  and  injustice  done  to  the  hapless  "  Dolores."  Her  character 
was  the  result,  to  a  great  extent,  of  her  early  environment  and  training, 
and  up  to  the  last,  faulty  as  her  life  had  been,  there  was  much  that  makes 
womanhood  sacred,  with  which  she  had  not  parted.  She  had  been  led  into 
and  along  the  path  of  error  by  the  man  to  whom  she  was  passionately  de- 
voted, but  she  alone  becomes  the  victim,  while  "  Durand  "  escapes  without  so 
much  as  a  reprimand.  This  is  the  world's  way,  but  we  think  it  the  function 
of  the  artist  to  indicate  that,  in  his  case,  as  in  hers,  justice  should  be  admin- 
istered, and  that  man  as  well  as  woman  should  be  made  to  pay  in  full  the 
peaalty  of  his  sin. — Home  Journal. 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox's  aim,  or  one  of  her  aims,  is  to  contrast  two  types 
of  womanhood,  as  affected  by  contact  w^ith  the  "stronger"  sex;  the  one 
type,  independent,  to  her  owm  risk ;  the  other,  thoroughly  "  feminine  "  and 
therefore  certain  to  be  safe.  "  Sweet  Danger  "  is  a  thoughtful  and  pur- 
poseful story,  lacking  neither  human  nor  intellectual  interest.  The  author 
has  treated  a  delicate  subject  with  restraint  and  a  measure  of  grace,  and 
she  does  not  forget  to  enforce  truths,  suggested  by  the  relations  of  the 
sexes,  which  can  not  be  too  frequently  asserted. — The  Boston  Times. 

This  novel  is  modern  in  type,  and  touches  upon  subjects  which  have 
excited  the  greatest  discussion  of  late  years.  There  are  several  poems  of 
the  passionate  type;  also  the  dramatic  element  is  very  prominent  in  parts  of 
the  work. — Nassau  Literary  Magazine. 

Mrs.  Wilcox  has  given  us  a  very  readable  novel,  the  style  of  which  is 
excellent  and  the  plot  fair.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  two  of  the  leading 
characters  emulate  what  was  worst  in  the  lives  of  "  George  Eliot "  and 
Lewes,  but  sin  brought  its  own  reward.  The  book  shows  in  many  ways 
the  strong  talent  of  the  author. — Public  Opinion. 

FINEI.Y  ILJLUSTKATED. 

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The  Fallen  I^dce. 

By  AUSTYN  GRANVILLE, 

THE  LATEST  LITERARY  SENSATtON. 

HAS  REACHED  THREE  EDITIONS  IN  SIX  WEEKS. 
H.  RIDER  HAGGARD  OUTDONE. 

The  scene  of  the  story  is  laid  in  Australia,  among  a  newly  discovered 
race  of  beings.  It  is  a  remarkably  original  novel,  and  will  be  read  with 
great  interest. — Chicago  Herald. 

The  story  is  well  conceived,  and  in  the  same  popular  strain  as  those 
written  by  the  author's  famous  cousin,  H.  Rider  Haggard. — Chicago  Mail. 

The  style  of  this  brilliant  writer  is  closely  allied  to  that  of  Rudyard 
Kipling,  but  he  outranks  his  English  contemporary  in  his  profounder 
knowledge  of  affairs. — St.  Paul  Globe. 

The  scarcity  of  Australian  novels  makes  this  one  doubly  entertaining. 
It  is  certainly  "novel"  enough  to  richly  merit  its  name. — Current  Literature. 

It  shows  imagination  and  creative  genius,  and  gives  great  pleasure  in 
its  perusal.  The  illustrations  deserve  special  mention.  —  The  Detroit 
Tribune. 

Those  who  enjoy  intellectual  flights  of  the  imagination,  cleverly  re- 
corded in  fiction,  will  read  this  adventurous  tale  with  interest. — Brooklyn 
(N.  Y.)  Times. 

The  brain  of  Cervantes,  nor  the  fancy  of  Swift,  nor  even  the  weird 
tales  from  the  Orient,  for  which  Galliland  is  responsible,  outrank  this 
romance  in  the  flights  of  fairy  fiction. — Every  Saturday. 

Is  an  ingenious,  highly  original,  interesting  story,  the  plot  of  which  is 
laid  in  Central  Australia.  It  is  written  by  Austyn  Granville,  the  renowned 
traveler,  who  brings  to  this  work  a  vast;  amount  of  technical  knowledge, 
derived  from  a  wide  diversity  of  resources,  and  his  observations  on  men  and 
manners  are  thoroughly  original. — Religious  Telescope. 

The  scene  is  laid  in  Central  Australia,  and  embraces  in  its  daring  out- 
line the  most  extravagant  improbabilities,  ^vhich  the  author  has  invested 
with  all  the  realism  of  every-day  life.  The  author  is  a  great  traveler,  and 
embodies  facts  in  the  story  derived  from  actual  kno^vledge  and  experience. 
People  who  like  this  kind  of  reading  will  be  delighted  with  "  The  Fallon 
Race." — Ohio  Farmer,  January  19th. 


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fitter  Fruits 

FROM  THE  FRENCH. 

By  MADAME  CARO, 


A  realistic  story  of  extreme  interest,  portraying  the  best  features  of 
domestic  life  in  France.  Especially  interesting  to  the  readers  of  the 
higher  class  of  French  literature. 


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How  TO  Live. 
Fhat  to  Eat. 


DISCHARGE  YOUR  DOCTOR!    w^o  coo... 
OR.  CARfelN'S 

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need  know.  It  gives  general  rules  in  regard  to  the  proper  selection  of  food,  the 
best  manner  of  preparing  same,  what  should  and  should  NOT  be  used  under 
certain  conditions,  and  all  based  on  the  excellent  medical  instructions  also  given. 

NO  FAMILY  SHOULD  BE  WITHOUT  IT. 


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IT  WILL  SAVE  MANY  TIMES  ITS  COST  IN  ONE  YEAR. 

If  your  child  is  sick,  consult  it.  If  you  are  worn  out,  it  suggests  a  remedy  If 
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Doctor  Carlin  Knows  All  About  It,  and  explains  so  you  can  make  no  mistake. 

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readily  understood  by  all.  Any  case  of  ordinary  sickness  is  fully  treated,  and 
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were  eminent  doctors,  indicating  a  peculiar  fitness  of  the  family  in  this  direction. 
His  practical  knowledge  was  of  wide  scope,  much  of  which  he  has  embodied  in 
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Was  It  Suicide  ? 

By  ELLA  WHEELER  WILCOX, 

Author  of  '-^Sweet  Danger^''  '''•Poems  of  Passion.^''  Etc. 


A  MOST  ENTERTAINING  BOOK  BY  THIS  GIFTED  AUTHOR. 


164  Pftgres,  Portrait  of  Mrs.  Wilcox  on  Cover.    In  Cloth^  f  i.OOy 
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Hatr<?d. 

By  JULES  CLARETIE, 

AND  OTHER  FRENCH  STORIES,  AS  FOLLOWS: 

The  Devil,  by  Guy  de  Maupassant, 

The  Subject  of  a  Drama,  by  Francois  Coppee, 
An  Audacious  Proposal,  by  Leon  Noir, 

The  Little  Russian  Servant,  by  Henri  Greville, 
A  Young  Lady  to  Marry,  by  Aurelian  Scholl, 
The  Rival  Prima  Donnas,  by  Jeanne  Mairet, 
Perdition,  by  Gustave  Guesviller. 


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Social  Etiquette 

By  EMILY  S.  BOUTON. 

"  And  mistress  of  herself  though  china  fallsy—VovE. 

A  treatise  on  the  usages  of  the  best  society.  How  to  entertain  ;  how 
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...     OP  ESPECIAL  INTEREST  TO  LADIES.     .     .  . 

Proper  care  of  the  person  prolongs  life  and  enhances  beauty.  How  to 
dress,  what  to  eat,  and  what  Not  To  Do.  This  writer  an  acknowledged 
authority. 

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The  Adopt<^d  Daughter 

By  EDGAR  FAWCETT. 

A  Story  of  New  York  Political  mid  Social  Life. 

ONE  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  BEST. 


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interesting  plot,  which  enlists  the  attention  of  the  reader  at  once.  A 
wealthy  and  aristocratic  woman  adopts  as  her  own,  the  infant  child  of  her 
maid,  and  brings  the  girl  up  to  believe  herself  the  daughter  of  the  house, 
"Marie"  is  beautiful  and  intelligent  by  nature,  and  the  finest  accomplish- 
ments and  culture  are  given  her.  The  life  of  the  mother,  and  the  (supposed) 
daughter  are  passed  in  Europe,  until  the  girl  is  grown,  and  indeed,  engaged 
to  be  married,  when  they  return  to  New  York,  and  her  Irish  parents  come 
forward  to  claim  her.  The  interest  of  the  story  must  not  be  lessened  for 
the  reader  by  a  further  account  of  the  plot,  and  its  ingenious  and  most 
interesting  denouement,  but  it  is  worked  out  in  a  most  admirable  manner, 
and  one  to  embody  the  nobility  of  sentiment,  the  strength  and  purity  of 
character,  that  characterize  Mr.  Fawcett's  portrayals  in  fiction. — Boston 
Budget. 

Those  who  have  read  Edgar  Fawcett's  Fabian  Dimitry  "  and  "  Social 
Silhouettes"  with  such  delight,  will  seize  with  avidity  the  latest  novel  of 
"  The  Bayard  of  American  Fiction." 

In  "The  Adopted  Daughter,"  Mr.  Fawcett,  by  means  of  a  highly 
romantic  love  story,  shows  cleverly  the  power  of  Tammany  Hall  and  Eing 
Rule  in  New  York  City,  and  points  in  a  true  light  the  machinations  and 
trickery  of  public  officials  in  that  city. 

The  entire  story  is  withal  so  prettily  told,  that  he  who  reads  must  be 
indeed  hard  to  please,  who  can  not  find,  at  once,  pleasure  and  profit  in  its 
perusal. — The  Inlander. 

The  book  holds  up  to  the  men  in  our  cities  the  state  of  their  municipal 
politics  in  a  way  that  ought  to  do  good. — Western  Recorder. 

"The  Adopted  Daughter,"  by  Edgar  Fawcett,  is  a  remarkable  bit  of 
fiction,  with  no  other  discoverable"^ object  in  view  than  that  of  being  enter- 
taining. In  this  the  author  has  succeeded  quite  well,  and  many  will  find 
his  work  a  source  of  pleasant  diversion.  A  feature  of  the  book  to  be  com- 
mended is  its  freedom  from  all  unclean  and  salacious  thoughts  that  pervade 
so  much  of  modern  fiction. — Spectator. 


In  Cloth,  288  Pages,  $1  25^  Paper,  lllnminated  CoTcr,  60  Cents. 


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LAUGH  AND  GROW  FAT. 

A  collection  of  the  best  writings 
of  this  great  author,  most  profusely 
illustrated,  with  over  500  pages.  It  is 
the  funniest  book  ever  published. 
Bill  Nye  needs  no  introduction. 
The  mention  of  the  book  is  enough. 
BILL  NYE'S  REMARKS. 
"I  love  to  believe  that  true  great- 
ness is  not  accidental.  To  think  and 
to  say  that  greatness  is  a  lottery  is 
pernicious.  Man  may  be  wrong 
sometimes  in  his  judgment  of  others,  individually  and  in  the  aggre- 
gate, but  he  who  gets  ready  to  be  a  great  man  will  surely  find  the  op- 
portunity." 

"I  should  like  to  do  anything  that  would  advance  the  cause  of 
science,  but  I  should  not  want  to  form  the  habit  of  dissecting  people, 
lest  some  day  I  might  be  called  upon  to  dissect  a  friend  for  whom  I  had 
a  great  attachment,  or  some  creditor  who  had  an  attachment  for  me." 

"1  have  passed  through  an  earthquake  and  an  Indian  outbreak,  but 
I  would  rather  ride  an  earthquake  without  saddle  or  bridle,  than  to 
bestride  a  successful  broncho  eription. 

"Age  brings  caution  and  a  lot  of  shop-worn  experience,  purchased 
at  the  highest  market  price.  Time  brings  vain  regrets  and  wisdom 
teeth  that  can  be  left  in  a  glass  of  "v^ater  over  night." 

"Too  much  of  our  hotelfood  tastes  hke  the  second  day  of  January, 
or  the  fifth  day  of  July.  That's  the  whole  thing  in  a  few  words,  and 
unless  the  good  hotels  are  closer  together,  we  shall  have  to  multiply 
our  cemetery  facilities." 

"Pride  is  all  right  if  it  is  of  the  right  kind,  but  the  pride  that  induces 
a  man  to  muss  up  the  carpet  with  his  brains  because  there  is  nothing 
left  for  him  to  do  but  to  labor,  is  the  kind  that  Lucifer  had  when  he 
bolted  the  action  of  the  convention  and  went  over  to  the  red-hot  minority. 
PRESS  NOTICES. 

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readers  should  be  tightened  to  prevent  accidents."— inier  Ocean, 
Chicago. 

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shines  through  every  line  in  his  hook."— Pittsburg  Press. 

"We  believe  that  Bill  Nye  is  the  brightest  humorist  of  the  day.  No 
change  in  the  English  language  can  ever  do  away  with  his  fun.  He  is  a 
public  benefactor;  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  age.  We  shudder  to 
think  what  will  become  of  us  when  he  is  gone.  May  fate  stay  the  day." 

JPl}/%lCi(jiS  J>J)h'i(t  PVBS Sm 

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than  usually  bright  and  sparkling.  A  pleasing,  gossipy  story,  which  is  told 
with  excellent  spirit.  It  gives  evidence  that  the  author  can  do  much  better 
in  a  wider  field  than  that  to  which  she  limits  herself  in  these  pages. — 
Chicago  Inter'  Ocean. 


"An  English  Girl  in  America,"  by  Tallulah  Matteson  Powell,  is  packed 
with  well-stated  results  of  an  uncommonly  acute  observation  and  analysis 
of  individual  character,  and  especially  of  differences  in  social  usages  between 
this  country  and  the  older  societies  in  Europe,  It  is  keen,  shrev/d,  observ- 
ant, discriminative,  and  tersely  and  pungently  written.— C/iicagfo  Times. 


The  impressions  of  American  girls  in  England  have  been  much  exploited 
of  late.  Miss  Tallulah  Matteson  Powell,  in  her  "An  EngUsh  Girl  in  Anierica," 
shows  us  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  and  sets  forth  MissCamelia  Welling- 
ton Porter's  surprise  at  various  American  details,  from  our  oranges  at 
breakfast  to  the  lack  of  leisure  in  Chicago,— Chicago  Evening  Post. 


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McNally  &  Co.) 
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Map  of  the  Solar  System— best  evsr  Made. 

Diagrrams  showing-  all  the  Presidents  and  Cabinets ;  the  Naval 
Tonnag-e  of  each  Nation;  Political  Complexion  of  each  Con- 
gress; Showing-  all  the  Political  Parties;  Showing-  the  stand- 
ing- Armies  of  each  Nation. 

The  History  of  Colonial  Politics;  Revolutionary  Politics;  History 
of  the  Confederation;  History  of  the  U.  S.  Government  by  Con- 
g-resses  and  by  Administrations. 

An  Analysis  of  the  Federal  Government;  Valuable  Statistics  on 
Debts,  Revenues,  and  Expenditures. 

Issues  of  all  Poiitical  Parties. 

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tory is  carried  out  with  admirable  ingenuity,  and  the  work  may  fairly  be  termed  a 
Breviary  of  American  politics." 

From  the  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox: — "The  labor  of  collating  and  illustrating  such  a  vast 
range  of  topics  ■  must  have  been  enormous,  but  it  is  done  m  such  a  perspicuous 
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A  most  readable  and  laughable  book  in  a  line  entirely  its  own.  Every- 
one should  read  this  story  before  visiting  the  Fair.  Profusely  illustrated 
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NOTHING  LIKE  IT. 

Just  out.  gupplies  a  long-felt  want,  and  sells  like  TrildflPe.  Grand* 

est  Inyention  of  the  age.  Thousands  are  using  it  and  milliong 
wanting  it.  The  simplest,  cheapest  and  most  reliable  Safety  Door 
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ried in  the  yest  pocket.  Is  handsomely  nickel-plated,  and  can  b© 
readil7  attached  to  any  door. 

19,000  SOLO  THE  FiRST  THIRTEEN  DAYS. 

From  three  to  twelve  needed  in  eyery  house  Trayelin^  men  buy 
it  at  sight.  Adopted  by  the  leading  hotels  of  the  country.  Recom- 
mended by  Chiefs  of  Pohce  and  Detectiyes  everywhere.  The  best 
selling  actual  household  necessity  ever  made, 

DIKECTIOXS.— Lock  the  door  and  turn  the  key  as  far  as  you  can 
in  the  same  direction.  Place  the  large  hook  over  the  neck  of  the 
knob,  and  the  small  hook  throtigh  the  ring  of  the  key.  Press  the 
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HistoFii  of  American  Politics." 


— EMBEACING- 


AHISTOHf  OF  THE  UNITED  STUnUKOTilE  COWS, 

AND  ALL  POLITICAL  PARTIES  FROM  1607. 

Containing-  Six  Highly  Colored  Diagrams  Illustrating  the 
Workings  of  our  Government  at  Important  Periods, 

BY  WALTER  R,  HOUGHTON,  A.  M., 

Historian  and  Author  of  "Conspectus  of  the  History  of  Politi- 
cal Parties,"  "History  of  American  Politics,"  "Wall 
^.hart  of  U.S.  History,  Literature  and  Geography," 
"Wheels  of  State  and  National  Govern- 
ment," Lives  of  Presidential 
Candidates,"  Etc., 


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3.  It  deals  at  great  length  with  Colonial  and  Revolu- 
tionary Politics  and  the  Confederation. 

3.  It  fully  discusses  the  issues  of  each  Political  Party. 

4.  It  contains  valuable  statistics  on  Revenues,  Expendi- 
tures, the  Public  Debt  and  Election  Returns,  showing  the 
popular  and  electoral  vote  of  each  candidate. 

5.  It  gives  all  the  Cabinets  and  length  of  tei-m  each 
member  served. 

6,  It  gives  a  biographical  sketch  of  each  President, 
presenting  many  facts  never  before  published. 

Autograph  letters,  endorsing  it  in  the  most  flattering 
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tors throughout  the  land,  among  whom  are:  Hon.  A.  R. 
Spofford,  Librarian  of  Congress;  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox;  Hon.  S.  J. 
Randall;  Benson  J.  Lossing,  Historian. 

It  contains  more  than  500  pages,  with  six  full  page  colored 
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title  being  thoroughly  discuss- 
ed, there  will  be  added  chap- 
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"UN  UNHllPPY  MJlSRIflGE" 

**J«  Marriage  •  Failure?*' 
AND 

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LAS  VEGAS,  HOT  SPRINGS,  i^.  3VI 


The=e  Springs  are  easily  accessible  by  the  Santa  Fe  railroad,  in  about  40  boars 
jTOSi  Chicago  in  a  luxurious  coach  and  over  a  smooth  roadbed. 

The  springs  are  numerous  and  the  wafer  is  of  all  temperatures  (from  hot  to 
cool),  and  has'a  g-cat  reputation  for  the  cure  of  rheumatism,  gout,  gravel,  syphilis, 
pkin  diseases  catarrh,  lithiasis,  etc. 

There  is  no  malaria  there,  and  the  location  is  delightful  at  any  time  cf  the 
year.  The  climaie  or  that  high  altitude  is  invigorating,  rendering  the  baths  doub- 
ly beneficial.    Accomodations  ara.:le  and  reaeohable, 

References'— Profu.  V/.  S.  Haines,  W.  H.  Byford,  A.  Eeeves  Jackpon,  R.  N, 
Isham,  E.  Andrews,  D  R.  Brower,  T.  S.  Hoytie,  Drs.  J.  J,  Kansom,  Chas.  Oilman 
Smith,  E.  J.  Doening,  J.  F.  Todd,  D  T.  Nelson,  T.  C.  Duncan,  J.  F.  Danter,  an^ 
others. 

Write  for  book  and  see  analysis  of  the  water  and  the  many  testimonials. 
For  Particulars  as  to  routes,"  trains,  rates,  etc.,  to  any  of  the  above  poiiits  caeB 
tioned,  address  any  Santa  Fe  E,  R.  Ticket  Office,  or 

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